Life is changed, not ended

A Reflection for Wednesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

Find today’s readings here.

Today’s Scripture readings have always presented somewhat of a challenge for me. 

In high school on the South Side of Atlanta, Ga., I distinctly remember attending two funerals of two friends back-to-back with each other. One friend was a devout Baptist and the other was my confirmation sponsor. The first funeral was that of my Baptist friend, someone with whom I worked closely to help raise money for childhood cancer research. Like many of our Protestant siblings, she had a particular zeal for Scripture that has always inspired my own faith. At her funeral, then, it made sense that her family shared with us some of her “life verses,” i.e., Scripture passages she held close to her heart and reflected upon regularly, like personal mantras. 

This pericope from Paul’s letter to the Romans (8:28) was among them: “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” This passage struck me, and it continues to strike me. But at that time, going back and forth between funeral and burial services for two very close friends, I was forced to grapple with what this means. 

“This doesn’t make sense,” I remember thinking. “My friends loved you, God, and did all things really work together for good for them?” I wrestled with how any of these things, the sorrow and hurt the family and friends were experiencing, saying goodbye to close friends or death itself could be considered “good.” 

But I continue to hold it intently with the next portion of this passage: “For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Beginning in baptism and continuing in our daily life of faith with Jesus, God is “conforming” us, making us one in the image of Jesus, God’s Son. It is precisely with Jesus, when he comes again, that we will join with him as the “firstborn” in the Resurrection. 

As one preface for the Eucharistic Prayer in the funeral Mass says, “life is changed, not ended,” and Paul’s letter to the Romans reminds us of this. As the church turns toward the celebrations of All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day this weekend, I am reminded to stick close with Jesus and keep his love by my side, so that even in these moments that are decisively “not good,” moments of doubt and sorrow, pain and death, I might find myself becoming more and more one with him, and therefore, with others around me. 

And maybe, knowing that death does not have the final word, we can together, like my friend, make this our “life verse” too, constantly reminding ourselves that “all things work together for good for those who love God,” in whose loving image we are being conformed each and every day. 

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