杏MAP导航

By Vatican News

Last week, in his first Advent sermon, Cardinal Cantalamessa reflected on the meaning of death. This week, he invited his listeners to meditate on another truth that the pandemic has brought back to the surface, that of the 鈥渋nstability and transience of all things.鈥� 鈥淓verything,鈥� he said, 鈥渋s transitory: wealth, good health, beauty, physical strength鈥︹��

鈥淭he worldwide crisis we are going through,鈥� he explained, 鈥渃an be an opportunity to discover with relief that there is, despite anything else, a firm point, some solid ground, or rather a rock on which we can build our life on earth.鈥�

By helping rediscover faith in the afterlife or eternity, the pope鈥檚 preacher said, religions can contribute to the effort to create a better and more fraternal world. It makes us understand that we are travelling together on our way to a common homeland, where there are no distinctions of race or nationality. 鈥淲e not only share the route, but also the destination.鈥� 

Guarantee of eternity 鈥� the risen Christ

For Christians, Cardinal Cantalamessa explained, faith in eternal life is based on a precise fact: the resurrection of Christ and His promise. Jesus said, 鈥淚n my Father鈥檚 house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?鈥� It means going to live with the risen Jesus and sharing His life in the 鈥渇ullness and joy of the life of the Trinity."

The cardinal explained how belief in life after death waned in the 19th century through certain thinking, when 鈥渢he idea of personal survival in God was replaced by a survival within the species and within future society.鈥� 鈥淟ittle by little, the word 鈥榚ternity鈥� was not only regarded with suspicion but also forgotten and silenced.鈥�

Secularization

Secularization brought this process to completion, bringing about the 鈥渟eparation between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Caesar.鈥� It brought in a 鈥渨hole set of social attitudes that are hostile to religion and to faith,鈥� so much so that 鈥渢he afterlife has turned into a joke,鈥� as Kierkegaard put it. 

鈥淭he fall of the horizon of eternity,鈥� Cardinal Cantalamessa pointed out, 鈥渉as the same effect on Christian faith that sand has on a fire: it chokes it off.鈥� St. Paul warns about the practical consequence of this eclipse of eternity when he says, 鈥淟et us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die鈥� (1Cor 15:32). The natural desire to live "for ever" becomes a desire, or frenzy, to live "well," that is pleasantly, even at the expense of others if necessary. With the collapse of the horizon of eternity, human suffering appears doubly absurd and without remedy.

Eternal life and evangelization

According to the papal preacher, faith in eternal life is one of the conditions that make evangelization possible, which is why Paul says, 鈥淚f Christ has not been raised, then empty [too] is our preaching; empty, too, your faith鈥︹�� 鈥淚n proclaiming eternal life,鈥� the cardinal said, 鈥渘ot only can we leverage our faith, but also its affinity with the deepest yearning of the human heart.鈥� A renewed faith in eternity makes us free and helps us not to become attached to things that pass.

Preparing for life hereafter

Cardinal Cantalamessa used an analogy to show the need to rediscover faith in life after death. He said it would be silly for a person who has received an eviction order to spend all his money on renovating the house he is leaving instead of the house he is moving into. Likewise, it would be silly for us, who are asked to leave this world, to 鈥渙nly think about decorating our earthly home, without caring about doing good works which will follow us after our death.鈥� The fading of the concept of eternity has an impact on believers, as it reduces their ability to face the suffering and trials of life with courage, Cardinal Cantalamessa added.