There is something deep within the human spirit that resists death and decay, whether its buildings, family or communities, anything that is torn apart we get upset. There is something deep inside of us and I think at its core is a longing for the resurrection and a longing for Heaven; this knowledge that we are created to live forever. Whenever we see something that reminds us of God, of the divine attributes, beauty, truth, goodness and oneness, those divine attributes remind us that we are created for so much more. Jesus reminds us that as much as they remind us of God, they are not God himself. At some point they are all gong to disappear. All things on earth will come to an end, but God won’t. And we wont either if we remain in right relationship with Him. We are created for eternity. In Heaven every tear will be wiped away and everything made new. While we are here on earth, we have to deal with suffering and loss and it’s not fun. As a parish, we can probably identify with Jesus looking at the temple and say it feels like stones are coming tumbling down. Jesus is our hope, if buildings need work and finances are depleted, we need to back to the one person who is eternal unchanging and who will never let us down and that is only Jesus himself. With and in Jesus we can make something new together. Jesus must remain at the centre. Jesus says it won’t be easy but if we persevere and are willing to pay the cost for Him, we will gain our souls by our endurance. Here’s what our Holy Father says to us; “A true missionary, who never ceases to be a disciple, knows that Jesus walks with him, speaks to him, breathes with him, works with him. He senses Jesus alive with him in the midst of the missionary enterprise. Unless we see him present at the heart of our missionary commitment, our enthusiasm soon wanes and we are no longer sure of what it is that we are handing on; we lack vigour and passion.” So, Jesus must be present in all we do because if he is, the hope we have is unshakeable, because our hope is not be in anything that will disappear, crumble or be taken away but in God himself who will never abandon or forsake us.
