When you get to be our age,62 or older you realize how mortal you are;especially if you watch cable news. You don’t hear about the 1k flights that made it.You hear about the one jet that didn’t. You don’t hear about the many acts of kindness,unsung and unknown,throughout the world. You hear about the horrific inhumane acts of barbarism by Islamists. They have to report it. A good journalist is one who seeks out the facts and reports them. We have a country that guarantees a free press-not that we’re always getting one anymore.We can take that up another day.The point is we’re not 21 anymore and we know how brief life can be. Here one minute-gone the next.
We shouldn’t become obsessed with death though nor cultivate a morbid interest.It’s not healthy. Let’s be honest though. We do THINK about it from time to time even if we don’t talk about it.
God made us in His image and likeness. That means we have the capability to learn,to think,to reason and to love.
We also know that we were given free will and 2 people made a choice that brought sin and death into the world.
One of the abilities God did not give us after the fall was the ability to have knowledge of when we would die. In His wisdom and omnopotence God knew this was better for us. You have to admit if each of us knew exactly when, it would be a life changer.
God gave us the human mechanism to choose fight or flight when our lives are in danger. We can decide whether we stand a better chance of perservering our life by fighting or by taking off and avoiding a confrontation altogether. One thing we do see in the news from time to time is that one courageous person who risks his/ her own life to save another-without giving their life a thought. It happens on a daily basis though. There’s firemen,policemen,military,religious orders/organizations and even doctors and nurses willing to risk their lives for other people.Still each of us has faced the sting of losing a loved one or even faced our own mortality with a diagnosis of a fatal disease. When those diagnosis come,as they do for some,they think about their families,friends and life they MIGHT be leaving behind. It’s difficult. It must be a struggle to deal with-to have to face death that starkly.Most of us can’t imagine what it’s like.
God went one better though. He not only conquered death;He conquered sin.
We became the Ressurection People.
Now,we still fear death to one degree or another. it’s a mystery. We have faith that Jesus rose from the dead. We have faith that God keeps His promises, but other than Jesus Himself, no one (except allegedly a few)have ever gone to the other side and come back. So entering death is as mysterious as entering life. I don’t want to dress it up. It is painful and scary but if we have faith we can enter into its redemptive value even offering up our fears.
Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane and faced His agony.He prayed that the Father REMOVE His cup. In the end He said,not my will but the Father’s be done. He feared. He agonized. He PRAYED. Then He put His life into His Father’s hands with trust. We can say-He’s been there before and goes with us now.
We are the Ressurection People. We have to believe that. We have to know that this life is wonderful-for however long it is- and God wants us to live it abundantly in love. He also wants us to realize this isn’t it. We are meant for eternity.All we can do here is make the most of each moment.We can spend as much time with our loved ones as our circumstances allow. I know i kicked myself for not spending more time with my parents once they passed away. I really kicked myself for wasting my teen years by growing away from them. Every single one of us feels that way when we lose a loved one. We always consider how much more time we should have spent but the truth is,in most cases, our circumstances don’t always permit it. We do the best we can do.
Near the end of this entry you will find a short biography of Blessed Chiara Badano-a teen who suffered and died from terminal cancer. At the very end of this entry you will aslo find Saint(Pope)John Paul II’s encyclical Salvifici Doloris.The title is in Latin but the letter is in English. It’s worth reading and is not incredibly long. We may have the impression encyclicals are books; they’re letters meant for everyone. If you do read it pls let me know what you think and what you took away from it. Thank you!
Salvifici Doloris
Letter of Pope John Paul II on the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering, 11 February 1984
On the Redemptive Suffering of Christ (abridged from sections 14-21)
http://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/rdmpc1.htm
Like this:
Like Loading...
Trump:The American Years 
You must be logged in to post a comment.