As we begin the penultimate month of this year, November, a month of stock-taking, it is expedient to reflect on how our relationships with God and neighbour have been as the year gradually winds up.  It is particularly necessary to examine these relationships taking into consideration the hereafter, since we are not going to live in this physical world forever.  Indeed, our entire earthly existence ought to be a moment of deep reflection, transparent accountability and stock-taking.  This is because, whether we like it or not, each of us must one day render an account of our life to His Majesty, God the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Creator of heaven and earth and the Father of us all. With the above as backdrop, we have decided to reflect on the relationship between human existence on earth and eternal life.  That is why this month’s editorial has been entitled “Our Present Existence and the Hereafter—A Nexus.”

The phrase “Our Present Existence” can be explained as this present life that every human being is living on earth.  It is the existence that belongs to the people that are still living on the face of the earth till date.  On the other hand, “the Hereafter” refers to a life believed to begin after death. It is the aim of this piece to examine the link or connection between the two kinds of existence. This is here referred to as “Nexus.” In ordinary parlance, “nexus” can be defined as “a complicated series of connections between different things.  Used within this context, it refers to the influence which every aspect of human life has on life after death. The human person is a complex being, because he can be described from various perspectives, namely, cultural, religious, social, political, economic, physiological, psychological, theological, just to mention but few. Thus, this write-up is specifically aimed at telling the human person that each of the aforementioned aspects of human life is also connected to the hereafter. Every human person should, therefore, be careful how he relates with his neighbour in the above areas.

At this juncture, we shall enumerate and briefly explain the implications of our present existence, especially as they relate to eternal life. Our present existence is actually a preparation period for the hereafter. In other words, this world is not a home, where human beings are to dwell eternally.  It is rather comparable to a “market place,” where people go to buy and sell, and return home after their transactions.

It involves some rendering of account.  St. Luke reports that: “The seventy two disciples returned with great joy. They said, ‘Lord, even the demons obeyed us when we called upon your name.’ Then Jesus replied, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.  You see, I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy, so that nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the evil spirits submit to you; rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven’”( Lk. 10:17-20).  This is the point being emphasized in this write-up—that every human being on earth should relate with God and neighbour in such a way that his name will be written in heaven. Those whose names are written in heaven, who, in fact, are in heaven, are referred to as “Saints.” It is their Solemnity that is celebrated every first day of November.  The saints are our brothers and sisters who had passed through this earthly life, and have now been found worthy by God to dwell with Him in heaven, because of their good deeds, in addition to the mercy of God. Theologically, they are referred to as the “Church Triumphant,” because they are victorious.  Every second day of November, the Church celebrates the Commemoration of All Souls. These souls refer to our brothers and sisters, who, having experienced the vicissitudes of this earthly life and died, are not yet worthy of beholding the face of God, but are in a place called “purgatory”, where their remnants of sins shall be cleansed by purifying fire, before they gain admittance into heaven.  They are theologically referred to as “the Church Suffering.”  It was how they lived their earthly lives that determined their conditions, either to be in heaven as Saints or in purgatory as those who are still on their way to heaven, and are sure of arriving there someday, after the necessary purifications, because “nothing unclean shall enter it (heaven), or anyone who does what is shameful or false, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Rev. 21:27).

Human earthly existence involves hard work. St. Paul warns the Thessalonians not to allow idle people to eat, because this is equivalent to stealing. He states, “…while we were with you, we said clearly that if anyone is not willing to work, neither should that one eat. However, we hear that some among you live in idleness, doing no work but interfering with the work of others.  In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ we command these people to work quietly and earn their own living. And you, brothers, do not grow weary of doing what is right” (2 Thess.3:10-13).  St. Paul gave this warning when he noticed that some lazy Thessalonians were moving from house to house, begging for food, while preaching that Christ’s Second Coming (the Parousia) was at hand. St. Paul was telling them that whether or not Christ would come soon, this should not make a person to be lazy; rather, everyone should continue to work, and let Christ meet everyone working. That is certainly the right thing to do—doing the work that God has entrusted to each one of us.  In fact, Christ says, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to carry out his work” (John 4:34). In the same vein, St. John Bosco, Apostle of the youths, remarks that God has created human beings to work and when they refuse to work, God is not happy with them. He concludes, “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” In other words, whenever human beings are idle and refuse to do any work, Satan will definitely take over their lives.  Since they are not committed to God’s course, they must be committed to Satan’s course, for they cannot remain indifferent.  “It is either you identify with God or with the devil. Your choice between God and Satan shall determine your placement in the hereafter.”

One of the assignments that God has given all human beings include living a life of holiness, for God says, “Be you holy as I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Lev. 19:2); and Jesus says, “Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt. 5:48). Other assignments are showing mercy and compassion to all; being generous and helping those in need; being charitable, forgiving and forbearing ; being sacrificially loving; giving material help to others; rejoicing with those who rejoice; weeping with those who weep; keeping the Commandments, summarized in love of God and neighbour; alleviating human suffering; helping people out of their problems/difficulties, whether or not they caused the problems themselves; being faithful to the promises made either to God or to man and that human beings must avoid selfishness and greed, among others.

Out of the above-mentioned duties, I like to single out two that are of utmost importance towards inheriting eternal life. They are keeping promises made to God or man and avoiding selfishness and greed. On being faithful, St. Paul writes, referring to Jesus, “This is a true saying: If we have died with him, we shall also live with him. If we continue to endure, we shall also rule with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we are not faithful, he remains faithful, because he cannot be false to himself” (2 Tim. 2: 11-13). Concerning greed, Mahatma Gandhi simply explains that the world has enough for everybody’s need, not for everybody’s greed. In other words, the material resources that God has provided for the whole human race will be enough for all, if such resources are to be distributed equitably or at least proportionally. The masses are suffering because what belongs to all has been hijacked by a privileged few. In fact, it was because of selfishness and greed that the rich young man or the rich ruler could not go to heaven, even though he had obeyed all the commandments of God from his youth. After the man had said that he had been keeping all God’s commandments from his earliest days, Jesus then said to him, “There is still one thing you lack. Sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven.  And then come and follow me” (Lk. 18:22). We are told that, “When he heard these words, the man became sad for he was very rich” (Lk. 18:23). “Jesus noticing this said, ‘How hard it is for people who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God’”(Lk. 18:24-25).   The Parables of the Rich Fool (Lk. 12:13-21), the Rich Man and Lazarus (Lk.16:19-31) and the Prodigal Son (Lk. 15:11-32) are all warnings against selfishness and greed; because greed can prevent a person from attaining eternal life.

As regards the nature of the hereafter, besides what the Holy Books (Bible and Qu’ran) give human beings on the reality of the hereafter, its nature is not known with exactitude. Scriptures offer us some glimpses such as Paul’s Reflection on the Resurrection of the dead (1 Cor. 15:35-48).  In this passage, Paul compares earthly body with the glorious body every human being shall possess in the hereafter. The comparison of the two bodies is analogous to the bodies of seed and crop in the farm.  Hear him: Someone will ask, “How can the dead be raised to life? What kind of body will they have? You fool! When you sow a seed in the ground, it does not sprout to life unless it dies. And what you sow is a bare seed, perhaps a grain of wheat or some other grain, not the full-bodied plant that will later grow up. God provides that seed with the body he wishes; he gives each seed its own proper body…. This is how it will be when the dead are raised to life. When the body is buried, it is mortal; when raised it will be immortal. When buried, it is ugly and weak; when raised, it will be beautiful and strong. When buried, it is a physical body; when raised, it will be a spiritual body…. (1 Cor. 15:35-38, 42-44). Then, Christ’s own Resurrection is a paradigm for the general resurrection of the dead (1 Cor.15:1-11).

St. Paul describes the temporary nature of this world, using various images.  He tells the Corinthians and the whole world: Considering the present distress, I think it is better for a man to stay as he is.  Have you got a wife? Then, don’t try to get rid of her.  Are you unmarried? Then don’t look for a wife.  But if you do marry, you haven’t committed a sin; and if an unmarried woman married, she hasn’t committed a sin.  But I would rather spare you the everyday troubles that married people will have.  What I mean, my friends, is this: there is not much time left, and from now on married men should live as though they were not married; those who weep, as though they were not sad; those who laugh, as though they were not happy; those who buy as though they did not own what they bought; those who deal in material goods, as though they were not fully occupied with them. For this world, as it is now, will not last much longer. I will like you to be free from worry (1 Cor. 7:26-32, emphasis mine).

Authentic Catholic orthodoxy draws the nexus between our present earthly existence and the hereafter in three dimensions, namely that there are connections among the living members of Christ, referred to as the Church Militant, the Saints who are already victorious known as the Church Triumphant and those in Purgatory—the Church Suffering. As the living need the prayers of the Saints, so the souls in Purgatory need the prayers of the living to attain eternal life.

Let us pray for wisdom with the Psalmist that says, “Seventy years is all we have (on earth)—eighty years, if we are strong; yet all they bring us is trouble and sorrow; life is soon over and we are gone….Teach us how short our life is, so that we may become wise” (Ps. 90:10, 12). If a period of seventy or eighty years is our life’s span, it beats my imagination why people who are already in their sixties or even seventies are still greedy and amass wealth that they know full well they would not exhaust, even if they were to live for a thousand years!  Let us use our material resources in such a way that they become “stepping stones” to heaven, rather than “stumbling blocks.”

By Rev. Fr. Mark Ajiga