Everything that I know about God’s love and grace has helped me to see death at an old age as beautiful. Death is where our baptismal promises are completed. In baptism we are joined to Christ through his death and resurrection. When we die, we belong to the resurrection.
For all of us who have lost loved ones–most especially when the deaths weren’t because of old age–we hold onto these baptismal promises.
When Paul writes to the church in Corinth, “Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye…and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. …Death has been swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:51-54).
Lent reminds us that is from dust we have come and to dust we will return. God offers us the way to eternal life, freed from the fear of death.
This message was adapted from, “Death and Resurrection” by Jenna Pulkowski from the March 2013 issue of Cafe.