I will die on March 21, 2033 at the age of 67
I would base my homily today on the most often asked question about St. Vincent Ferrer. Father, why does St. Vincent Ferrer have wings? Is he an angel?
Well the church thinks of him as an angel. He is likened to an angel - a very important angel in fact. He is called the angel of the apocalypse, the angel of the end times. In the bible, in the book of Revelation, you will see an angel– the angel who reveals to John everything that will happen on the last day, or specifically the angel who announces the four last things. This angel is called the angel of the apocalypse and he announces these four last things – death, judgment, heaven, hell.
St. Vincent Ferrer has wings because he is likened to this angel – why – because as a priest and a renowned preacher his favorite piece in his wonderful homilies and sermons, which turned men and women back to God by the thousands, is precisely about the four last things. He would always speak so eloquently about death, judgment, heaven and hell. That all of us will die, and when we die we will be judged whether we will spend our eternity in heaven or in hell.
In honor of the patron of our seminary, I would like to disturb you as you plan out your lunch today. Probably you are already planning to eat dinuguan, pork barbeque, a lot of rice, probably batchoy for lunch and chocolate cake for dessert. How appropriate, because as you are planning to do so I would like to distract for a while your plans and probably destroy your appetite with the thoughts of the four last things. Like St. Vincent Ferrer, our patron, I would talk to you about death, judgment, heaven and hell.
A week ago, when I got tired of thinking of the many problems the seminary has, I opened the internet and curiously went to a website with the address www.deathclock.com. The website claims that if you supply it the right data it could calculate the day when you will die. Daw nahadlok man ko kontani pero out of curiosity ginpa-calculate ko sa sini nga website the time of my death. I entered the day, the month and the year I was born. Sa sex ginbutang ko male. Sa mode kon sa diin ginapamangkot sa imo ang masami mo nga modo, kon bala pessimistic ikaw, ukon optimistic ukon sadistic ginbutang ko normal, presuming nga normal gid man ako. Then I was asked about my Body Mass, that’s my weight multiplied with my height. Then it asked whether I’m a smoker or a non-smoker, I told the truth. Then beneath all these data a button says, check your death clock. I pressed it. Suspense, kululbaan, kag sang ulihi nagguwa ang sabat. And what did it say? I will die on March 21, 2033 at the age of 67. Beneath the data are written the remaining seconds of my life. It was 693,663,450 as of 11:42 last Sunday. So I will die on March 21, at spring equinox, the day when the sun hits directly at the equator, which according to the calculations of the fathers of the church is the anniversary of the creation of the world, and where the church bases it calculation for the date of Easter Sunday. And besides the year 2033 is the 2000th anniversary of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus - a good day to die for one who has spent most of his life teaching and doing the liturgy. Testingi ninyo www.deathclock.com. All I have to do now is to pray nga ang akon driver indi maghinarasharas agod makalab-ot ako sa year 2033. Hay mamista pa ko tani karon sa Leganes galing basi mabuhinan pa ang 2033 tungod sang cholesterol, sugar kag uric acid.
The fact is we will die. The very first day of lent we are all marked with ashes on our foreheads and the priest says to us, remember you are dust and to dust you shall return. Now what does that mean? If I were to translate this in hiligaynon it would simply mean mapatay ka man gihapon, mapatay ka man gihapon. But of course it would be so rude to say that as you present your foreheads to be marked with ashes. But that’s what it means exactly. We are reminded that at the appointed time we are to return to dust from which we came, we will die, and when we do we will face the judgment of God and after we are judged we either go to heaven or to hell.
The sermon on the four last things worked during the time of St. Vincent Ferrer because it created in the hearers the fear of losing everything, and confronted with this fear they were roused to work for the ideal . . . nothing less.
In life winning matters. People go to hell because they are just content in doing their best without intending to win the game, without intending to win heaven. You do not approach life with the mediocrity of the weak. You do not approach life content with statements like “well kon ano lang a.” You do not approach life hiding your mediocrity with statements like, “well I will try to do my best.” No, you should not just do your best – you have to win and win you must. You approach life intent in winning it because the alternative is to lose everything. Indi pag-isugal ang imo pagpalangit. That’s St. Vincent Ferrer.
Christ called stupid those who fight wars they could not win and do not intend to win. St. Paul said “life is a race to win the crown of glory.” This is how we approach life because in the end we will die and we will be judged whether we deserve heaven or hell for all eternity. In approaching life we intend to win because if we do not win we stand to lose everything, we stand to lose everything, everything.
In the gospel today Jesus asked a man who had been ill for 38 years. Do you want to be well? Now why should you ask a man bedridden for 38 years if he wants to be healed? Why, because wanting it makes a difference. Nothing can be done to a person if he or she does not want it.
In life you intend to win because if you do not do so, you stand to lose everything in death and what follows after death.
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