Homily 11/10/2019 -- 10am Mass, Live Well to Die Well

2 Maccabees gives us an account of courageous martyrdom.  Would you be able to die so well?  That might sound like an unfair question, because you might think, "How could I know?"  But if you live well now, then you will die well.   No doubt, the martyrs in 2 Maccabees lived in such a way that heaven was more real to them than the world they were giving up.  They already had life from above.  If you and I can cultivate this kind of relationship with God now, then we will be able to die well when the time unexpectedly comes. 

From 2 Maccabees 7: 
After him the third suffered their cruel sport.
He put out his tongue at once when told to do so,
and bravely held out his hands, as he spoke these noble words:
"It was from Heaven that I received these;
for the sake of his laws I disdain them;
from him I hope to receive them again."
Even the king and his attendants marveled at the young man's courage,
because he regarded his sufferings as nothing.

Paired with Romans 8

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. 17 For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.