Week of November 15

Sunday November 21^st  is the last Sunday after Pentecost.  It marks the end of Liturgical year C.  Sunday November 28^th is the first Sunday of Advent.  Advent is the prelude to Christ’s birth on December 25^th.  This Sunday we are reminded in Luke’s gospel of Jesus’ death.  This week provides an opportunity for us to reflect on our own lives.  

In sum, our lives are about all that we have, or have not accomplished. 

As Christians, we believe in “free will”.  This means we have a lifetime of making choices.  We also believe in a merciful God who desires that we join him in the hereafter.  Our human nature leads us to choices sometimes consistent with God’s plan and sometimes inconsistent with God’s plan.  How we choose to live our lives is our responsibility. 

As William Ernest Henley put in his poem Invictus :

“I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul ”

The poem Invictus was the favorite poem of both Nelson Mandela and Timothy McVeigh.  Nelson Mandela was a great humanitarian who was the first black man to be elected as president of South Africa.  Timothy McVeigh blew up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City.  McVeigh’s last words before lethal injection were from the poem Invictus. It is not our prerogative to judge these men, but we can examine which man’s life was closest to Jesus’ teaching.

Jesus was hailed as our Savior at his birth.  Jesus is also known as the Messiah, the chosen one.  As the Son of Man, he came to earth in order to seek and save the lost.  Christ taught that those who lost their lives for his sake would be saved.  He also  taught us to love our neighbor as ourselves. 

In the last week of the Church year we see the fruits of his labor being culminated in his death. In his 33 years on earth he did all that needed to be done to save us.  Jesus lived long enough to resolve the reason for his living, and freely chose to die on the cross for our sins.

Developmentalists, including Eric Ericson, believe that we live as long as we need to resolve our reason for being. The end of the Church year is a good time for us to examine our own lives.  Are we living a life that will allow us to accomplish what we desire?  Is what we desire in accordance with what Christ wants each of us to be?  The answer to these questions lay within each of us.  We have the years between our birth and our death to resolve them.

“We are the masters of our fate:
We are the captains of our souls “