Where, O Death, is your Victory?

There is one thing in our human experience that we all share simply because we are human beings.

Regardless of where we are born and the color of our skin, regardless of the language we speak and the amount of money we have, regardless of our religious beliefs, intelligence, virtues, overall health, etc. there is one great equalizer in our human experience.

This great equalizer common to us all is death.

As priests we come into contact with death frequently: just this week I was involved in five deaths; ages ranging from 14 to 81.

Death is the great equalizer and it does not discriminate.

In the first reading we heard of the execution of four brothers who refused to renounce their faith in God.  This happened when the Greek emperor Antiochus IV desecrated the Temple of Jerusalem and forced Jews to abandon their faith about 150 years before Christ.  These four brothers, along with their three youngest brothers, were executed in front of their mother.  They were faithful and unafraid.  Their belief that God would reward them in the afterlife allowed them to endure horrible deaths, facing the great equalizer peacefully.

Some years ago when I was newly ordained, I entered the hospital room of a woman who had been registered as Catholic when she was admitted into the hospital.  To my surprise, after greeting this lady who was close to 100 years old, she told me she was not longer a Catholic, as a matter a fact, she was a professed atheist.  She had stopped believing decades ago.

I spoke to her about Jesus’ promise of eternal life, how he promised to take us to a place where there would be no more pain and suffering.  She looked at me dazed and said, “Father, I really hope what you say is true.  It sounds so nice!  If it’s as good as what you say it is, I hope it’s true.”

Jesus has promised us that though we die, we will live forever; that we will rise from our graves, body and soul, and live for eternity.  This is why God is not a God of the dead, but of the living, because in Him, we all continue to live.  If we live for Christ and are faithful to him, we will receive the greatest promise of the Gospel: eternal life.

Many early Christians were also executed for their faith, being accused of cannibalism, disorderly conduct and disobedience to the emperor.  The Christians however went joyfully to their deaths.

Christ has turned upside down the experience and understanding of death.  For us Christians, death has lost its power and we should not be afraid.

In the year 165 in Rome, Justin was taken to the prefect Rusticus.  The prefect asked, “If you are scourged and beheaded, do you believe that you will ascend to heaven?”  Justin answered, “I have confidence.  I know that for those who lead a just life, there awaits the divine gift.”  Rusticus said, “You think, then, that you will ascend?”  Justin replied, “I do not think, but I am fully convinced of it.  We are confident that if we suffer the penalty for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved.”

In the year 203, Felicity and Perpetua were led to their deaths in northern Africa.  The ancient account of the martyrdom states that Perpetua was “abashing the gaze of all with high spirit in her eyes.  She was singing.  Since a wild beat did not kill them, after giving each other the kiss of peace, they were killed by gladiators.

In 304, Julius the Veteran was told by a prefect, “If you do not offer sacrifice, I am going to cut your head off.”  “That is a good plan!” answered Julius.  “Only I beg you, good prefect, that you execute your plan and pass sentence on me.  If I should deserve to suffer like this, I shall have eternal praise.”

Before being executed in 1996, one of the monks of Tibhirine in Algeria said he was not afraid of anything because he had already lost the fear of death.  He knew like these early Christians, that death does not have the last word, but eternal life in Christ does.

May Christ fill us the peace that comes from the sure and certain hope that we will live forever if we persevere in our discipleship of Jesus Christ.  We gather to eat the food of heaven, food Christ has instructed us to eat so we can have eternal life.

In death, life changes and does not end.  Like the seven brothers, like the early Church martyrs, like the many faithful departed before us, we trust in God’s promise of eternal life.

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