10th Sunday in Ordinary Time (09.06.13)

The scripture readings today prompt us to reflect on death and resurrection.

We have many fears, but perhaps our fear of death is most poignant.
To fear death is natural and understandable. The separation from and loss of a loved one is a most painful experience, and coping with such grief can be almost traumatic. It is only human then to have feelings and to express them. Christ Himself shed tears at the death of His friend, Lazarus. But, as the Son of God, He is the one who gives hope and consolation to all those who mourn.

Death can be the loneliest moment of all, yet if Christians have an excessive fear of death, it could indicate that their faith is superficial and that Christ to them is little better than a stranger on the margins of their lives. Christ teaches us to see death, not as an encounter with a terrible unknown, but rather with a loving, caring, merciful, compassionate God.

Thomas Merton puts it: “If death comes to us as an unwelcome stranger, it will be because Christ also has always been an unwelcome stranger to us. For when death comes, Christ comes bringing us the everlasting life He has bought for us with His own death.”

How about, when death comes, it should interrupt our plans and schemes! Surely we would not mind being interrupted by the unexpected arrival of a friend!
It behoves us then to make Christ our constant companion and friend on our journey through life – not merely a shadowy figure on the fringes, whom we meet on special occasions, such as when we receive the sacraments.

If we have this attitude towards our own death, we can become a source of great strength
and hope for those who have to pass through the castle gates before us. In Christ’s name,
we are called to go along with the dying as far as we are allowed, to accompany and be
with them to the very gate.

Then, what a marvellous power Jesus had – to raise people from the dead!

And, in a sense, He empowers us to be His instruments in other “death” experiences…
when we help in the reconciliation process of people who are estranged from each other,
and maybe have not spoken for years; or even in smaller ways by a kind word, or gesture
we could “roll away the stone from the tomb” of someone buried in their own pit of
loneliness, bitterness, guilt etc.

What a power we have! We can either call them forth from their self-made tomb or we
can pass by and leave them to languish there.