Conti.. Spirituality of the Old..Religious- Part 111.B 

 Bandhu Ishanand Vempeny, S. J.

                         

    SPIRITUALITY OF THE OLD ESPECIALLY OF

THE RELIGIOUS -- Part 111

III.    A SEARCH FOR A SPIRITUALITY FOR THE OLD . 

B. The Eschatological Dimension

One of the metaphors, which can give great meaning to old age and death is that of wheat-grain falling to the ground.  “Truly, I tell you, unless the grain of wheat falls on the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit” (Jn 12: 24).

This metaphor must be read in connection with Rom. 6 where Paul speaks how we share Christ’s death, burial and resurrection through Baptism: “So by our baptism into his death we were buried with him, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glorious power, we too should begin living a new life. If we have been joined to him by dying a death like his, so we shall be by a resurrection like his; realizing that our former self was crucified with him, so that the self which belonged to sin should be destroyed and we should be freed from the slavery of sin” (4-6). This idea of sharing the life of Risen Lord is found in a slightly different way in Phil 3:10-11: “I want to know him and to experience the power of his resurrection and share in his sufferings and become like him in his death, so that I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” In the context of the fruitfulness of our life by union with Christ, he uses the metaphor of the union of the branches to the wine to produce fruits (Jn 15:1-10).

The idea that the Kingdom of God is partially present here on earth to be realized fully in the beyond, points out to the life or the Spirit of the Risen Christ as a guarantee for our life in the beyond. The parables of growth (mustard seed, Mt 13:31-32; leaven 13:33, and the growing seed when the farmer sleeps, Mk 4:26-29) express graphically this view of the seminal presence of the Kingdom, growing into the future. Besides, the era of the Kingdom is understood as the era of the outpouring of the Spirit, and this Spirit is given as aparxe (first fruits) (Rom 8:23) or as arrabona (pledge or guarantee) (2 Cor 1:22 and 5:5; Eph 1:13) meaning thereby the partial experience of the Spirit promising a fuller realization in the future. According to Paul by sharing the life of the Risen Christ, Christ’s image (2 Cor 3:18) will grow in us. In Eph. 4:13 and 16, we have the well-known sayings of growing into the full stature of Christ, which can be understood in terms of the growth of the individual Christian as well as of the collective body of Christians.

When Paul speaks about the resurrection of the dead he uses a similar metaphor if not the same. “Someone may ask: How are dead people raised, and what sort of body do they have when they come? How foolish! What you sow must die before it is given new life; and what you sow is not the body that is to be, but only a bare grain, of wheat I dare say, or some other kind; it is God who gives it the sort of body that he has chosen for it, and for each kind of seed its own kind of body… It is the same too with the resurrection of the dead: what is sown is perishable, but what is raised is imperishable; what is sown is contemptible but what is raised is glorious; what is sown is weak, but what is raised is powerful; what is sown is a natural body, and what is raised is a spiritual body” (1 Cor 15:35-38, 42-44).

Jesus says that by sharing His Eucharistic body and blood we share in his death and resurrection. “So Jesus replied, I am telling you the truth, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (Jn 6:53-54, cf. also 55-58).    

          It is said that Prince Siddhartha, after seeing the three scenes of an old man, dying man and dead man, one after the other, began to ask ultimate questions on the meaning of man’s life and death until he became ‘the Buddha’ (= the enlightened one). The Second Vatican Council calls Religious Life “the blazing emblem of the heavenly Kingdom” (PC, No. 1). This is especially so through chastity “which is practiced ‘on behalf of the kingdom’ (Mt 19:12) and which Religious profess” (PC, No. 12). Religious Life, in itself, symbolizes the other-worldly dimension of the Kingdom of God, the life of bliss in heaven. But when a Religious, especially an elderly one, experiences more and more deeply the life of resurrection and the gifts of the Spirit such as “charity, joy and peace, patience, understanding of others, kindness and fidelity, gentleness and self-control” (Gal 5:23). An old Religious with his/her very existence, especially with the above fruits of the Spirit and with the growing image of the Risen Christ, by his/her very existence is one of the most effective preacher of the Kingdom.

( Coming up next  C.This-worldly Dimension of the Spirituality of the Elderly)