From my youth, there was a very funny movie starring Hollywood greats, Goldie Hawn and Meryl Streep. “Death Becomes Her” is the title of the movie and it was about these two women socialites, frenemies who competed over everything—fame, men, fortune. Soon however, each one panicked as they realized they were aging. They eventually resorted to plastic surgery to look young, but to no avail. Then lady luck smiled at them as a mysterious lady, death in disguise, offered them a magic potion that would not only keep them young but make them immortal, in exchange as usual for their very souls. The prospect of being young forever made the two greedy and so without hesitation drank the magic potion. Yes, indeed, they remained young and alive, beautiful and vigorous, despite illnesses, injuries, or accidents. Sadly though, spoiler alert, by outliving everyone in their generation, life became lonely and a bore, and irony of ironies, the two who abhorred each other were stuck to one another.
Friends, what will you give to stay young or be young again? What indeed is the secret of being young? Is there really such a thing as a fountain of youth whether literally or figuratively? Most of us for sure and not just Meryl Streep or Goldie Hawn desire to be young—there is just so much life, so much power and wonder in being young. Some of us try diet—stay away from sweet is the advice of the so-called glucose goddess; it caramelizes or ages our internal organs, she says. Others try lots of exercise or sports to make the body limber and flexible beyond their age. There is of course the path of cosmetics galore as the movie suggests—apply beauty products, avail of plastic surgery, etc. They say, the global beauty industry in 2024 alone amounted to a staggering 640 billion dollars. Yes, we can admit, dear friends, every now and then we long for our lost or fading youth. Especially as life becomes more serious as we age. Gone are the carefree days of the past. Gone are the times when life seemed simple, hopeful, innocent. Now, we look at the world through tired and cynical eyes, and just feel weary and lost. We are like Israel in the first reading today, a people walking in darkness.
And yet the good news is that, believe it or not, there is a fountain of youth. Our faith reveals to us the secret of eternal youth. Indeed, that is what today’s feast of the Sto. Niño is about. Our God is eternally young in our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember how St. Augustine calls him: “O, Beauty, ever ancient, ever new. Late have I loved you, you were within me and I was outside, but it was there that I looked for you.” In the book of Revelations, God tells us, “Behold, I make all things new.” That is, in God, we are created anew. We are eternally young. More to the point though, the Gospel today, for this feast, points us to the secret of being young. When Mary confronts the Sto. Niño or the Young Jesus over why he stayed behind in Jerusalem, the child simply says, “Why were you looking for me, did you know that I must be in my father’s house.” One other version of this verse has the child Jesus say, “did you know that I must be about my father’ business.”
For us Christians, then, if we want to stay young, perhaps not physically but more importantly, in mind, heart and spirit, we need only to GO TO OUR FATHER’S HOUSE. The father’s house, of course, need not be literally the Temple or the structure of a Church like the Gesu, although it can help a lot. But even the young Jesus as the Gospel tells us today has to leave the Temple and return to Nazareth. Later on, he would tell the Samaritan woman that she can pray in spirit anywhere and not just atop any holy mountain. But mention of the Temple or the Church is made in contrast to the market or the polis. Yes, we can be so preoccupied with business or politics that in no time we grow old and worldly. So the Father’s House therefore that makes us young is our personal space and time where we commune with God, where we can pray and talk to Him. How big is the space you give for God in your life? Secondly, what makes us young is having God as Father. Which means humbly surrendering to a greater wisdom, a greater power. And on the other hand, recognizing our finitude, our limitations and weaknesses; That was how it was when we were young and we simply obeyed and entrusted our lives to our parents, knowing that they knew better and more. Some of us feel abandoned when our parents finally pass on, and for the first time the buck stops with you, and we feel the weight and burden of being on your own. For Christians though, there is always God, our Father, and before him, we are always his beloved. Thirdly, and finally, to be young is to be about our Father’s business. But what we ask is our Father’s business? Simply put, it means to live meaningful, significant, life-giving, productive, generous lives. God’s business is about the salvation of mankind. What are we doing to help out in this mission? As they say, those who serve are the happiest people in the world.
So if you want to remain young, dear friends, no need to go through stem cell treatment like beloved former senator x who has supposedly lived since the time of the dinosaurs. No. All you need to do is to Go to the House of the Lord. To the House of your Father. And be about your Father’s business. Amen
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