Submission for Exaltation (Saturday, Week 30, Year 2)

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Next Monday is All Souls Day: a day set aside in the Christian calendar for special remembrance of all souls. It is a day that brings back certain memories that may momentarily put us in a sorrowful mood. As usual, such occasions, such memories should help us ask ourselves one more time what death is to us. How do we perceive death? I am sure a lot of us (if not all of us) will say that death is our greatest enemy. Is death actually what we think of it? Is it actually the last sleep? Is it actually the total end of our existence? Instead of thinking of death as an enemy, I see it as an expected friend: a friend who opens up the entrance unto eternity. Instead of thinking of death as the last sleep, I see it as the final awakening. Instead of seeing death as the total end of my existence, I see it as a passage to my new and everlasting existence. At death, the light of time and earthly existence is turned off and then the dawn of eternity takes over.

And that is why St Paul in today’s first reading (cf. Phil. 1:18b-26) longed to die. In his own words, he says, “For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. My desire is to depart and be with Christ. That is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account”. Paul saw death as the greatest gain possible. And yet he knew that there was still work to be done for the people, and that was why he said that “to remain in the flesh was more necessary for the people to whom he ministered”.

Just like St Paul, we need to have a balanced view of life and death. As Christians, we need not fear death, but should rather look forward to it as a passage unto the fullness of life. We must accept our remaining time left on earth and use it to continue with our good world and to continue to carry out whatever that has been allotted to us in God’s plan. Our place in God’s plan (the position we occupy on earth, the work we do, our background and so on) may not be exalted. It may not be one of those big positions on earth. It could be the lowest place at the table of life. But humility demands that we accept those “lowly places”. Having done what we are supposed to do according to the plan of God, we are sure that God would, one day, say to us at the end of our existence on earth, “My friend, go up higher” just as Jesus remarked when He saw people choosing places of honour at a feast He attended (cf. Luke 14:1.7-11). Our humble submission to God now will one day pay its dividends. When we choose to be humble, we have not chosen to depreciate ourselves but to appreciate God’s plan for us. 




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