Dying with Christ and Rising With Christ

Homily for Wednesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

Any of the authentic Pauline letters in the Christian Scriptures usually find St. Paul making lists of the many things that draw us away from God and, as a consequence, draw us away from the final goal of life with God after our mortal death. Today we hear him list immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry. Although that list would be more than enough to consider, a few verses later St. Paul lists some other things that will also draw us away from God: anger, fury, malice, slander, and obscene language out of your mouths.

In some letters these attributes are called things of the flesh which are then contrasted with the things of the spirit. In this letter, however, he lists things that are signs of the fact that we have failed to die with Jesus through baptism and, consequently, are not living like people who have been granted the gift of eternal life.

The Letter to the Colossians is very different than the letter we read immediately before it; namely, the First Letter to the Thessalonians. The First Letter to the Thessalonians was the first of St. Paul’s letters.  The Letter to the Colossians comes near the end of his ministry and was written while St. Paul languished in prison.  It is not difficult to hear that St. Paul is thinking of the passing phase of earthly life at this stage of his life.  When we read his exhortation in this light, it takes on special emphasis. 

However, once again he states that we have already died with Christ and that our human life is hidden now in the life of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. When he appears again, our human lives will be changed to lives of glory.  This is St. Paul’s rationale for telling us to think of things above, to live this life with the perspective of heavenly things. 

One of those heavenly things is the eternal banquet that we will experience in the next life for which our Eucharist is simply a foretaste. The Eucharist reminds us that we have died to the world just as Jesus died for us on the cross. The Eucharist also reminds us that we hold within us the seeds of eternal life – the Resurrection – experienced by Jesus after his death and the hope of all who follow Jesus after his return to the Father.