Life, death & the hereafter

[1]

Father Dominic Emmanuel [1]

About three weeks ago I was approached by at least three different TV channels to tell them what I (representing the Church, of course) had to say about the news that the world would be coming to an end on May 21, 2011. Last year two other national channels had called several religious leaders, including me, one scientist and even an atheist, to tell them what all of us thought about the prediction

that the world will end on August 2012 — a fear triggered by the completely fictional Hollywood film 2012.
I enumerated to them several other occasions, including the one about 50 years ago, when as a class three student, I had witnessed a grand havan being conducted in Ajmer to drive away the impending end of the world that year. The Bible does not mention anywhere a date or time when the world will end. Yet, some ill-informed, if not crazy, Christian pastors in the United States as well as in South Korea, have led their followers to mass suicide because they brainwashed them into believing that the end of the world was well nigh and that they would be taken to heaven ahead of others.
We don’t know what happened to them but what we certainly know is that our world is still alive and kicking. Whether we believe in reincarnation or in the gift of eternal life after our soujourn on earth, one thing we do desire, with much pondering and questioning, is to know where we came from, what we are doing here on earth and where we will be after we die. There are enough instances of reincarnation believers having a hard time at the hour of their death trying to figure out what form they will take in the next life.
Interestingly, after Jesus had explained to his disciples that he would undergo terrible suffering and death, something the disciples just did not want to hear, leave alone believe, they became quite insecure about their own future, as most of us don’t know what the future holds for us. So how does one deal with this insecurity of the human heart, one which cannot be secured with money and power?
When Jesus noticed that his disciples were anxious about what would happen to them after He departs, He comforted them by saying, “Don’t be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house... I am going there to prepare a place for you... so that you can be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going”. Thomas said, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”. As the story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection unfolds further, it becomes clear from the Bible that the disciples had not really comprehended what Jesus meant.
Leaving the disciples aside for a moment, this question can also be posed to us. Do we actually comprehend or at least try to comprehend what God wishes to communicate to us, especially when the medium in which God communicates is totally unfamiliar to us? That, perhaps, also explains why the media, with their own insecurities, doubts and uncertainties, about their audiences, about life hereafter, goes into a panic mode the moment they hear anything, all mostly unsubstantiated, about the end of the world. Well, if we trusted in God, would we be at all disturbed about the end of the world or indeed our own end? For, trust in God would make us love God ever more deeply and help us all live a life according to God’s will and plan.
That is exactly what Jesus went on to say to his disciples: “I will not leave you all alone like orphans. I will come back to you”. He did, in His risen self. Our trust in God means that come what may, He will never leave us orphans, neither here on earth nor when we are taken from this earth. As Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid”.

— Father Dominic Emmanuel, a founder-member of Parliament of Religions, is currently the director of communication of the Delhi Catholic Church. He
was awarded the National Communal Harmony Award 2008 by the Government of India. He can be contacted at frdominic@gmail.com