Homily 469 – 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
I love the beautiful colors of Fall. As a photographer, there’s nothing better than the bright yellows and reds to add some zest to my landscape photos. But have you ever noticed that no one really seems to panic as all the trees lose their leaves? No one runs around screaming, “The trees are dying… the trees are dying!” If someone actually did this, we might call the police, but then we could calmly tell them, “Hey, settle down, it’s just Fall. The trees only look dead. Spring will come.”
In today’s second reading, St. Paul is trying to say something similar to the Thessalonians. “We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.” The church in this community was in a panic because people were dying and they were afraid that their relatives were going to miss out on the return of Jesus. Paul assures them this isn’t the case. In fact, the dead will actually rise first, and then the rest of those left alive will join them. We’ll all be together. So don’t worry.
But Paul actually gives an even greater reason for hope. The dead are not really dead, at least not permanently. It is as though they have fallen asleep. In this way, they’re a lot like the trees. For everything I can tell in the winter, the trees look like they’re dead. But we don’t panic. We know that Spring will come. Paul wants his community to have this same peace about those who have died. Don’t panic. This isn’t the end. It’s just Fall.