The New (& the Old) Evangelization Lent: A rehearsal for death

Mar 2, 2012

The great paradox of life is that death is the only sure thing; the only future event we can truly count on.

The closer people get to the gates of death, the more sensible they become. Suddenly, a morally dissolute life or the missed family opportunities of a workaholic, in retrospect, is almost always regretted. Indeed, on your death bed, all the time you spent at the office doesn’t seem so important anymore.

For those who face imminent death, what immediately comes to mind as one of the most cherished of recollections is the time he or she spent with the family. During the 9/11 tragedy in 2001, there were countless phone messages left by victims whose highest priority was to say one last time, “I love you.”

Yet, what is more important than saying “I love you” to a spouse, relative or friend moments before death is the conversation we might have with God for one last time on earth. Hence, when America was in the midst of processing the loss of lives, the doors of local churches across the country were pushed open by the multitude so that they could take refuge in God within the sanctuary. To be sure, the nation’s mortality was felt for the first time in a long time. When death is a looming possibility, it awakens the soul to where it comes from and to where it is going.

Petty interests and careless living quickly lose their appeal.

God is always relevant when death draws near; even to the most stubborn of atheists. After all, it is the only certain thing in life. As such, the contemplation of life’s end is the beginning of wisdom.

When people assume they possess something indefinitely, they value it less. It is only by losing something that we can see it for what it is.

“The Gospel confirms this; the only way for a man to gain his life is to lose it, to give it up, to sacrifice it.”

This is the greatest paradox of life; yet, it is the least understood and perhaps the most ridiculed one. Nevertheless, it is the crux of the Gospel and the secret to happiness. As Jesus said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” (Jn. 12:24)

St. Ambrose, a Father and Doctor of the Church, said:

“We should have a daily familiarity with death, a daily desire for death. By this kind of detachment our soul must learn to free itself from the desires of the body. It must soar above earthly lusts to a place where they cannot come near, to hold it fast. It must take on the likeness of death, to avoid the punishment of death.”

Ambrose continues:

 “It was by the death of one man that the world was redeemed. Christ did not need to die if he did not want to, but he did not look on death as something to be despised, something to be avoided, and he could have found no better means to save us than by dying. Thus his death is life for all.”

This “daily familiarity with death” is not only a rehearsal for when we give up our body at the moment of death, but is a means of tasting the joy and the hope of living for God.

Indeed, the theological virtue of hope is bolstered by knowing that the worst of human suffering and cruelty on earth is far outweighed by the reality of eternity.

 Eternity- and here I refer to Heaven –is so full of compensation, so all-encompassing, so permanent and so full of happiness that people who experience it would gladly endure a life of suffering. I know that is tough to imagine. But as Scripture states, human life is but a vapor, appearing one moment and disappearing the next. God sees our life on earth- with our trials and joys –simultaneously with our life in eternity. He knows exactly what we need and allows only what is in our best interests. And our best interests are that our eternal happiness is secured in heaven. After all, if the soul is not saved, nothing is saved.

Herein lies the essence of Lent.

This season of dying to self and meditating on death- especially that of our Lord's -is a rehearsal for the real thing. The more we practice it, the more we see life as it really is and the more we ensure our passage into heaven when death greets us; as we know it will.

As Fr. Lorenzo Albacete said, "To avoid the confrontation with death is a refusal to live life to the full.”