St. Mary Parish, Manchester at 210 West Main Street, Manchester, MI 48158 US - Death and Life
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Death and Life THE DEATH WE MUST AVOID AND FEAR (A MEDITATION ON THE READINGS FOR THE 13th SUNDAY IN ORD. TIME TAKEN FROM VOL. 4 OF THE SERIES In Conversation with God, PUBLISHED BY SCEPTER PRESS) |
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This Sunday the Liturgy speaks to us about death and life. The First Reading (Wis 1: 13-15) teaches us that death had no place in the initial plan of the Creator: God did not make death, and he does not take delight in the death of the living. It is the result of sin (cf Rom 6:23).
Jesus Christ accepted it as a necessity of nature, as an inevitable part of man’s fate on earth. Jesus Christ accepted it…in order to overcome sin (John Paul II, Homily, 28 February 1979).
The human heart recoils in anguish from death (Heb 2:15), but we are comforted by the knowledge that Jesus annihilated it. He has destroyed death (2 Tim 1:10). It is no longer the event that man must fear above all else. Rather it is, for the believer, the necessary step from this world to the Father.
The Gospel of the Mass shows us Jesus arriving once more at Capharnaum (Mark 5:21-43), where a large crowd had gathered expectantly to meet him. Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogue, was waiting. His need was great and so was his faith. His daughter was at the point of death. There was also a woman there who had spent every penny she had trying to find a cure for a long illness. Both these people felt an urgent need to meet Jesus.
The healing of this woman, who had placed all her hope in him, takes place on the way to Jairus’ house. Jesus has stopped to console the woman.
Meanwhile, they inform the ruler of the synagogue: Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Master any further? But Jesus takes Peter, James and John to be witnesses of the miracle He is about to perform.
They come to Jairus’ house, and He sees the confusion and the people there weeping and wailing. When He enters, He says, Why do you make a tumult and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping. And they laugh at him…
They failed to understand that for God real death is sin, which kills the divine life of the soul. For the believer, bodily death is like a sleep from which we awake in God. That is how the first Christians looked at it.
Saint Paul urged the Christians at Thessalonica not to be of any other mind: We would not have you ignorant, brethren, he exhorted them, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope (1 Thess 4:13).We cannot lament like those who expect nothing after this life. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep (1 Thess 4: 14).
He will do for us what He did for Lazarus: Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awake him. When the disciples thought He meant a natural sleep, Jesus clearly explains: Lazarus is dead (cf John 11:11 ff ).
When death comes we shall close our eyes on this life and awake in the real Life, a life that lasts for ever. At night there are tears, but joy comes with dawn, we pray in the Responsorial Psalm (Ps 29:6).
Sin is real death. It is the dreadful separation of man when he breaks away from God. Compared to this, the other separation, that of the body from the soul, is temporary and even trivial. He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die (John 11:25-26).
Death, which was to be the last enemy (1 Cor 15:26)is in fact our ally. It has become the last step after which we find ourselves in the definite embrace of Our heavenly Father. He has been waiting for us from all eternity, and has destined us to remain with Him forever.
When you think about death, do not be afraid, in spite of your sins. For He already knows that you love him and what stuff you are made of. If you seek him, He will welcome you as the father welcomed the prodigal son; but you have to seek him (J. Escrivá, Furrow, 880). Lord, you know that I seek you day and night.