It is quite natural to have a little fear or anxiety as we think about death and particularly as we think about our own death. The Peace Prayer of St. Francis helps us to understand and even embrace the mystery of death:
“For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”
The words of this prayer reflect the words and teaching of Jesus in today’s Gospel:
“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.”
In today’s Gospel Jesus is inviting us to follow him both in life and in death with these words: “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be.”
St. Paul in his letter to the Romans reflects on the mystery of death. The mystery of death is ultimately the mystery of God’s unfailing love for us. God has made this love real and concrete in the life, death, and resurrection of his Son. Since God’s love is so powerful and unfailing there is nothing, not even death, that can separate us from this love of God.
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39).
So as we face this mystery of death that at times can make us anxious or afraid we are invited to put our life and our death into the loving hands of God. God tells us that death is not the end but the entrance into eternal life with God:
“Remember also those who have died in the peace of your Christ and all the dead, whose faith you alone have known. To all of us, your children, grant, O merciful Father, that we may enter into a heavenly inheritance…in your kingdom. There, with the whole of creation, freed from the corruption of sin and death, may we glorify you through Christ our Lord” (Eucharistic Prayer IV)
Image: “Bellini, Saint Francis in the Desert, detail” by profzucker is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.