April 14, 2019

Friday  |  April 12, 2019  |  23:59 PM

Friends,

This weekend we begin the holiest week of the Church year. We commemorate the sacred events leading up to Jesus Passion, Death, and Resurrection. I read somewhere recently that for Christians it’s not Death or Resurrection, it’s Death and Resurrection. I often think that for those who are left behind, the process by which their loved one dies plays a major role in how we mourn. So we may respond to a death following a long illness differently than we may respond to a sudden tragic loss. Either way, a person who we loved is no longer physically with us. When we are young and in good health, I’m sure every one of us thinks we may defy the odds and not experience death.

Coincidently, a book I am reading right now, titled The Time Keeper by Mitch Alborn, is centered around the will to live forever. The author writes, “Try to imagine a life without time keeping. You probably can’t. You know the month, the year, the day and the week. There is a clock on your wall or in the dashboard of your car. You have a schedule , a calendar, a time for dinner or a movie. Yet all around you timekeeping is ignored. Birds are not late. A dog does not check its watch. Deer do not fret over passing birthdays. Man alone measures time and man alone chimes the hour. And, because of this, man alone suffers a paralyzing fear that no other creature endures. A fear of time running out.”

When I read these words they really made me think. I’m just halfway through the book but I have a feeling it may have a very Christian outcome, which brings me to the Resurrection.

I do believe in the Resurrection but I have to ask myself what I mean by “Resurrection.” Do I believe it’s a physical resuscitation ? Do I believe each of us is resurrected after death in the lives of our loved ones, as so much of who we are lives on in them? Do I believe that there is an actual place that we inhabit after this life? Do I believe that I live in the presence of God after death in a different way than I do now? Someone once said, “I may not know what is beyond the grave but I do know who”.

This Holy Week is all about Death and Resurrection. We may not know how to explain either but we will experience both.

We have the privilege and opportunity to celebrate our faith as Catholic Christians together this week. We need to be with each other to reflect upon these most important aspects of our faith. Please join us.

Sincerely,
Father Coyne