Monday in the 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, August 30, 2021

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep. Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, console one another with these words.

For the Greeks and Romans of the times, when life on earth ended, the “shade” of the deceased descended into the dreary realm of Hades.  The shades did not so much live as exist there, wandering aimlessly around in the dark domain of the underworld.  The teaching of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and his opening the gates of heaven to those who lived righteously on earth brought joy to the many Gentiles who heard St. Paul and the Apostles speak.  But while Jewish Christians had been prepared for the Resurrection by the Prophets and also apocryphal writings, for the Gentiles, this teaching came as entirely new, and even after accepting it, they had a number of questions to be answered before better understanding it.  Paul sets himself to answer them in this part of his letter to the Thessalonians, and in his next letter to them as well.

“We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, about those who have fallen asleep.”  The Greek word translated here as “to be unaware” is actually “to not know”, or “understand”.  Paul speaks this way in order to assure the Thessalonians that the life to come was not some mystery known only to certain initiates, as was true in some of the cults making their way through the Empire at that time.  He speaks of the Christian dead as “those who have fallen asleep”, a very different way of looking at death than the one they had been accustomed to.  “So that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.”  The Christian may rightly hope for the eternal salvation of friends and loved ones and others among the elect, while those who have rejected Christ “have no hope” because they have rejected the reason for hope.  “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep.”  We who grew up as Christians and were taught from childhood about the Death and Resurrection of the Lord, can have little idea how hard it must have been for Gentiles to come to believe this fundamental teaching of the Faith.  Their belief is both heroic and miraculous.

“Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep.”  As we read St. Paul’s teaching here, we should be careful to keep in mind that he is answering specific questions the Thessalonians have sent him, either in a letter or orally through St. Timothy, who had just come from them.  The question Paul is answering in this verse is evidently this: When the Lord comes, will he take to heaven those living at that time ahead of those who have died?  The question perhaps indicates concern that seeing loved ones again will be postponed or even be rendered impossible.  

“For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”  That is, “the dead in Christ” will rise from their graves before the saints alive at the time of the Lord’s coming are taken to heaven.  “Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”  Thus, all the saints together will be taken to heaven at one time.  We note here that Paul does not give a thorough teaching of what will happen on the last day, for the Thessalonians have already understood about the judgment Christ will come to deliver.  Paul keeps his answers specific to the questions.  “Thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, console one another with these words.”  It is, indeed, most comforting to think that we shall always be with the Lord.  We recall how he told his Apostles, just before his Ascension: “I will be with you always, even to the end of the world’ (Matthew 28, 20).  He is always with us on earth through the Holy Eucharist, the Gospels, his Church, and his grace, and in heaven he shall be with us as we gaze at him face to face.