Homily

I thought about one topic every single day this week. Death. The end of this mortal existence, the completion of earthly life, the separation of the soul from the body, the decay and dissolution of this physical form from which there is no going back, no hope for reversal or repair. Death. Death. Isn't that an uncomfortable word? But truly, I thought about death every day this past week, because I knew I wanted to talk to you today about death.

First of all I thought about the deaths of family members: the deaths of my father and my mother. I pray for them every day and often one thing or another will remind me of them, and of their absence in my life. Then there's the deaths of my grandparents, uncles, aunts, a cousin, a nephew, a brother-in-law. People related to me by blood or marriage who are no longer available for me to sit and visit with or share with them holiday celebrations and sacraments.

Then there are the parishioners who have passed away, and I have buried. I counted up over 60 of them these past years. So many different and wonderful people, so many people of great faith and generosity, so many people who have left their mark on my own life in so many different ways. Many of them were older and had lived long lives, but a few were children. I think most recently of Sister Mary Magdalen and Krystyna Paszeczko—remarkable people with extraordinary lives and with sincere faith. They are dead, and they are missed here today, along with all the rest who have departed this life from our parish.

I thought of the death two months ago of the 21 Coptic martyrs who gave up their lives rather than deny Christ in front of their Muslim executioners. And I wonder how many anonymous Christians throughout the world have died for their faith since the last Pascha.

I thought of the death of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. It's hard not to shed tears at the Matins of the 12 Gospels on Good Friday when we hear of the sufferings and humiliation, the inhuman treatment of Jesus from the Gospel accounts. The most important death in the history of humanity, in the history of the universe, the execution of the very Son of God, was noticed by very few people on that day at Calvary; and the majority of those who did notice, mocked and ridiculed the Savior of the world. You would think the churches would be packed with His followers who would want to pray and meditate on His suffering and sacrifice on Good Friday. But the churches are not packed full of people. Even the death of a loving Savior cannot trump other activities that seem to define people's lives.

And I thought of my own death. Of course it is coming. Tomorrow, next year, when I'm 70...who knows except the Lord? To focus, at least as much as possible because I am easily frightened, to focus on my own death provides a sharp image and it shines a harsh spotlight on the way that I am living right now. And that's not a pretty sight. It may not be horrific, but it is hardly where I know I should be. It's not hard to just live day by day, but it ultimately ends up being very hard if we don't consider our end.

Death. We see it all the time in certain ways. We see films and TV shows where people are murdered, executed, killed in battle, individually or in large numbers. Programs like NCIS, and CSI have shown more and more gruesome simulations of mutilated or dissected bodies with every passing year, and it must be what people want, because these shows were/are extremely popular. I don't play video games but it's obvious that the majority of them, aimed at young teen and adult males, are all about killing; and from commercials I have seen, it appears the killing is often extremely bloody and grisly. So our society enjoys death on the screen, doesn't mind watching it there, but not so much when it is in real life with people we actually know. You may remember that I describe the so-called "Celebration of Life" as "Celebration that We Are Alive Even If You Are Not." No corpse present at these events to sour the atmosphere with the stark reality of death. Instead, it's pleasant time to tell jokes and funny stories about the departed—because if we don't, we might end up contemplating our own mortality, and nobody there wants to do that. More than this, read the obituaries and see how often they read, "No service is planned," or "A memorial will be scheduled at some future date" and I often wonder if it really will be. I wonder how long it will be before people will have to use a dictionary to find out what the word "funeral" means. And when there are actual funerals today they are often sparsely attended. Nobody wants to be reminded of death, and I think the attempts to avoid this topic are steadily increasing over time. Many, many people want to keep a great distance from thinking about this extremely important event that all of us will very personally participate in one day.

We sing today, and throughout the whole season the Easter tropar: "Christ is risen from the dead! By death He conquered death, and to those in the graves He granted life!" Notice that the word death is sung three times, but life only once. Heaven isn't mentioned. Graves are mentioned. And I think there's a good reason for this.

If we do not understand death, if we do not meditate on our mortality in a purposeful way, if we do not see the power that death holds over our lives even though we try to ignore it, if we are unable to place ourselves at the foot of the cross bearing Christ crucified, then it is not possible for us to sing the tropar with genuine joy. We might sing it as a happy song, on a day that feels so very happy, like children sometimes sing songs that contain words and meanings they do not understand, but we won't be singing it as an article of faith, as a foundation for our lives. If we don't have a grasp on what He has conquered for us, then it is hard to see how His conquering makes any genuine difference to us. If we ignore death, then it's pretty easy to also ignore the Conqueror of Death. I think that's one reason why faith in Christ continues to weaken in our country. If we cannot see the link between death and sin, and what impact they have on our lives, it is no surprise that we do not really need a Savior. And if we believe we do not sin, and never consider the end of our days, then Christ is surely wasting our time, isn't He?

Let us be the people who are willing to think on death, willing to meditate on our mortality, willing to stand at the foot of the cross and look upon the Crucified Christ Who sacrificed Himself for our sins and for our lives. Then, then we can sing this tropar not just as a happy song, although happy it is, but rather with good understanding and with spiritual joy.

Let us beg for life. Not physical existence, but for life. Not just physical life, but life in Christ, both body and soul. Let us beg for life not just in this world, but also for the world that is yet to come. Let us beg for a life that is worthy of the sons and daughters of God, a life where sin is fading away and virtue is growing stronger. Let us beg for the life in Christ for our families and friends, because we and they are the peoples who will be in those graves and we most dearly need life, not only at the hour of our death, but right here, right now even today, O Lord give us Your gift of divine life!