33rd B // Life Is Beautiful Mass
Basilica of the Assumption (BNS)
November 17th, 2024
Introduction
I spent the month of October in Rome as a delegate to the Synod of Bishops. Because of that, many things in my schedule had to be moved around, among them, the annual “Life Is Beautiful Mass” in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. As a result, we find ourselves celebrating the beauty and goodness of life, not in October as part of Respect Life Month, but rather in November, towards the end of the liturgical year.
At this time of year, the liturgical readings starkly remind us that heaven and earth will pass away, and that all of us will be judged before the Throne of God. With readings that speak of “earth’s closing thunders” it may seem incongruous to celebrate our annual “Life Is Beautiful Mass”. For even as the readings tell us that life as we know it is passing away, we are saying at the same time, “life is beautiful”.
Life Is Beautiful
Perhaps this seeming incongruity isn’t such a bad thing. It prevents us from thinking about the beauty of life superficially. It demands that we focus on what really makes life beautiful, and why we should cherish life at every stage from womb to tomb, as also why we should care for our common home, the earth. With that in mind, let’s take another look at today’s readings.
When Jesus speaks of a darkened sun and moon and stars falling from the sky, we may think he is exaggerating or using stark imagery to get our attention. Not to take Jesus at his word is actually a bad idea. But as we listen to him, should we not be amazed at the worlds God’s hands have made, at the beauty of creation and the unimaginable breadth of the cosmos? Should we not also be amazed that for the righteous, an even more beautiful home has been prepared? As we read in the Book of the Prophet Daniel, “…the wise will shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament, and those who lead the many to justice will be like the stars forever.” Life is more beautiful than we could ever ask or imagine.
In every Mass, we pray for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Yet, when the Lord speaks of his glorious second coming, that moment when the Son of Man will be escorted by his angels “to judge the living and the dead” – we feel afraid. When the time comes for the angels to gather the elect from the four winds, we have to ask ourselves if we will be numbered among them. For some, perhaps for many, the prospect of God’s judgment at the end of our lives and at the end of human history is like the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads. How can life be beautiful, some ask, if we have to face a comprehensive examination at the end of it?
But perhaps there is another side to God’s judgment that we’ve overlooked. God created us in his image and likeness. God endowed us with inherent dignity, indeed, with infinite dignity, an inherent worth and dignity that is ours from conception until natural death. He also endowed us with reason and free will and invited us to contribute to his creation by the use of our talents and skills. And more than that, God has called us to friendship with himself, a friendship that consists in sharing his own life.
If, in turn, God, like an indulgent parent, were to say to us, “Well, go and do what you want. I don’t care. It doesn’t matter to me!” – If he did this, would we think we were important in his eyes? Would we think he regarded our lives as beautiful or as inconsequential? As it is God, takes us seriously. And because he does so, life is beautiful!
To the Uttermost Length
But God doesn’t just take us seriously. He loves us with an everlasting love. Pope Francis’ recent encyclical on the Sacred Heart of Jesus is an extended meditation on the depth and beauty of God’s love for us, a love at once tender and profound, a love that is unmerited, a love that heals our deepest wounds, a love that restores life – physical and spiritual – to its original beauty – the love that makes human life resplendent with divine glory.
This is the love that we encounter in every Mass. Today’s reading from the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that Jesus, God’s Son in the flesh, sacrificed his life for us and took his seat at the Father’s right hand where he now pleads for us. That the Father would send his Son into the world to become man in the womb of his mother, the Virgin Mary, to be born into history, to be part of a family – and then – to preach the Good News, to heal the sick and raise the dead, and finally to lay down his life for us – what does all this say? It says, “Life is beautiful in God’s eyes!” Life is precious to him. Life is worth saving, worth the sacrifice of his own Son.
That is why the Church urges us confidently to approach the end of time and our appearance before Christ as our judge. That is why we await Jesus’ return with joyful hope and why we commend the dead to God with trust and tenderness. And that is also why we work with every fiber of our being to protect and defend human life from conception until natural death. For the overwhelming evidence of Faith and Reason is that life is the good and beautiful creation of an infinitely wise and good God, and that everything good will be caught up in his Eternal Kingdom. Wonderous is his creation and still more wonderous his redemption!
Honoring Life and Its Beauty
In that spirit, we will honor today two persons who have given their lives to defending and protecting human life in its goodness and beauty, Gina Ruppert, the Executive Director of the Center for Pregnancy Concerns, and Tom Grenchik, who heads the pro-life efforts of the U.S. Bishops. In the midst of the pro-abortion culture that darkens and disfigures the State of Maryland, they shine like the splendor of the firmament and the stars of heaven. More on that at the end of Mass!
For now we pray that we, all of us, may shine with that same splendor as we bear witness to the beauty, goodness, and dignity of human life from the moment of conception until natural death, and by our love of mother and child and our love of the sick and frail elderly, win many hearts and minds to the proposition that life is beautiful If we do so, we will have every confidence that on the day of judgment Jesus with say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”