Rector's Message
Sunday
April 7, 2002Death: The Silent Discussion
My Dear Friends in Christ,
"The Leaven" greets you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who is Resurrection and Life. Within a 3-day period, Jesus changed the agenda and headline news from Death to life, and for good reasons.
Death is seldom a pleasant subject, except for dabblers in the underworld and with the devil. The subject of death is almost taboo. Yet we are surrounded by images of death every day. An accident on the road, an ambulance siren, a hospital morgue, the obituary page, a funeral home, a funeral procession, a tolling bell, a passing hearse, the 9/11 attack, scenes of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, as well as the observance of Good Friday, bring home to us the stark reality of death, often so crude and gruesome.
But although we avoid the topic like the plague, one thing we do know is that within the next 200 years everyone living today will be all dead. As one person said: "Death is just nature's way of telling us, Hey, you're not here anymore."
As we pass on, or should I say, as we die, we do not joyfully " pass to the world below," as Virgil (70-19 B.C.) suggested. Jesus has changed the conversation and discussion from death to live. Death is now seen in the context of life, because our Lord Jesus Christ through His triumphant Resurrection invites us to live with Him for ever and ever. Thus, if death is the most silent discussion; life is the most talked about Resurrection. Every blessing. Every blessing.
Yours in Christ
Augustine Joseph
Rector
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