August 2, 2009
18th Sunday, Ordinary Time, Year B
We all heard the news: Cory Aquino died yesterday. After all the prayers, all the rosaries, all the healing masses, why did Cory still die? Why didn't Cory recover from her illness? Where was the healing power of God? Did God ignore all the prayers? Did God turn a deaf ear? Does God truly listen to prayers? Or was it that God just didn’t care?
These are difficult questions. These are questions that challenge our faith. But when faced bravely these are questions that give meaning to how we live our life. These are questions that solidify our confidence in a most loving God.
In 2004, Cory wrote a prayer – A Prayer for a Happy Death. In that prayer, she wrote:
Almighty God, most merciful Father
You alone know the time
You alone know the hour
You alone know the moment
When I shall breathe my last […]
When the final moment does come
Let not my loved ones grieve for long […]
Let them know that they made possible
Whatever good I offered to our world.
And let them realize that our separation
Is just for a short while
As we prepare for our reunion in eternity […]
Cory believed that the separation that death brings “is just for a short while” for beyond death is “reunion in eternity.” God may not seem to answer positively the masses and the rosaries that asked for Cory’s healing, but we trust that God answered Cory’s own prayer. Cory was loved unconditionally by God, as we all are. And the separation brought about by death is just for a short while, as it shall be for all of us, for there is reunion in eternity.
The words of Jesus in the gospel today confirms this confidence in God. Jesus is the bread of life. He is the bread that comes down from heaven. He is the bread that endures for eternal life. In Jesus, life conquers death. In Jesus, life is changed, not ended. In Jesus, life ends in life, not death.
Sa harap ng masasalimuot na mga tanong na dulot ng kamatayan, inaanyayahan tayong magtiwala kay Hesus na tinapay ng buhay. Ang tumanggap sa kanya ay mananaig sa kamatayan. Ang manalig sa kanya ay magkakaroon ng buhay na walang hanggan.
When Cory was still with us, there wasn't any reservation to let all people know her deep faith in God and her great love for the Blessed Mother. Cory had faith. Cory believed. Cory received the bread of life. Cory may have left this world but she left in faith. She left trusting that the sting of death was never total. She left in anticipation of a reunion in eternity.
We may not have all the answers to all our questions, but what we have are the words of Jesus which are more than enough reasons to trust - to trust in Jesus, to trust the Bread that endures for eternal life. Amen.
