Hope in Life

Paul went to Thessalonia in about the year 50, and he stayed for almost 2 years before moving on to Corinth.  When he’s in Corinth, he hears that the Thessalonians have missed some of his teaching.  They thought that anybody who believed in Christ would be alive until His second coming – which was thought to be imminent.  The reading that we have today tries to correct that.

“We don’t want you to be unaware about those who have fallen asleep.”  In other words, he is saying they will rise as well.  This reading is often proclaimed at a funeral Mass; I always like to focus on the sentence “We don’t want you to be unaware so that you may not grieve like the rest who have no hope.”

We grieve, we’re sorrowful, and death affects us—but we have hope.  Maybe that’s what we need to hear this morning.  That in the face of death, you and I as believers can have hope in life.

Monsignor Daniel Hoye