1 Thess 4:13-18 / Luke 4:16-30
Our life’s directions and purposes are formed by our beliefs.
Because our beliefs shape our principles, which in turn are expressed in purposes and directions of our lives.
So if the belief is that this world is all there is, then when life comes to an end, then everything comes to an end.
But for us Christians, we believe in the message of Jesus Christ, and it is the Good News that He brought to us.
In the gospel, we hear what that Good News is: it is hope for the poor, liberty to captives, new sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed and downtrodden.
In essence, it is the Good News of salvation, the Good News that God loves and cares for us.
So, we believe in the God of life, we believe in the God of love.
And we will want to live a life of love in this world, so that we will have a life of love in the next world.
That is also the message of St. Paul to the Thessalonians in the 1st reading, so that they can have hope in the face of death.
May our lives be an expression of God’s love here on earth, and may our hope in the eternal life where we will live forever in God’s love.