Pastor's Spiritual Reflections

By Fr. Leo Schneider (3/25/2007)

Dear People of Holy Name,

“I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” (John 11:26)

We believe in the life, death and resurrection of Christ. To believe in his life and death is the easier part since we know of life and death ourselves. But to believe in the resurrection, life after death, is where faith begins. It must have been a great help to Martha and Mary to see their brother brought back to life from the dead. However, death of the physical body still remained a reality for them even if delayed for a while.

The raising of Lazarus is meant to inspire a strong faith in Jesus as the Lord of life. Martha certainly expresses such a faith when she answers the Lord saying, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world

For us who claim Christ, the same certainty about life after death is to be ours. Paul even taunts death by saying, “O death, where is your sting?” To believe in Jesus Christ is to believe in eternal life. To believe in eternal life turns death into a beginning and robs it of its horrible finality. This doesn’t mean we don’t feel deep loss upon losing loved ones. With death our relationship with our departed changes, but does not end.

With the Church’s teaching on the Communion of Saints, we celebrate our connectedness with all who have lived and died in Christ. As we grow older and have had the opportunity to die with our loved ones, death loses its power, we become more comfortable with death and our continued connectedness with our deceased becomes real.

Losing my parents was very real, and as they drew their last breaths, it was painful to know they were gone though they were delivered from great suffering. Today, years since, I think of them everyday and call upon them in prayer, they are with me still. It is a comfort to me to know they are still with me and that their love for me and their gifts to me in traits, both mental and physical, are their continued life within me.

The disciple’s hearts burned within them when they remembered Jesus and then came to realize he was still with them in their hearts, and this is the same experience I have with my parents. This experience opens the door to belief in life after death, the resurrection of Christ and one day my own.

As we grow in faith and in our love for Jesus Christ, death itself becomes a friend that takes us home. As we draw closer to Jesus, the stronger our faith and the easier it becomes for us to accept the reality of death, and rather than it being a horrible end, it becomes in Christ, an anticipated day of reunion.

Some people I’ve been with before they die are there. I think all of us can prepare for that day by praying for the gift of a holy death for ourselves and one another. Then when that day comes, we will have the faith of Martha and the certainty of heart and mind that the Lord will raise us up to eternal life as he raised Lazarus. Let us pray that Martha’s words may become our own in mind and heart. “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe….

In Christ’s love, Fr. Leo