The Truth Is: I’m Scared Thinking About Death

First Reading: 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14

It happened also that seven brothers and their mother were arrested and were being compelled by the king, under torture with whips and cords, to partake of unlawful swine's flesh.One of them, acting as their spokesman, said, "What do you intend to ask and learn from us? For we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our fathers."

And when he was at his last breath, he said, "You accursed wretch, you dismiss us from this present life, but the King of the universe will raise us up to an everlasting renewal of life, because we have died for his laws." After him, the third was the victim of their sport. When it was demanded, he quickly put out his tongue and courageously stretched forth his hands, and said nobly, "I got these from Heaven, and because of his laws I disdain them, and from him I hope to get them back again."

          As a result the king himself and those with him were astonished at the young man's spirit, for he regarded his sufferings as nothing. When he too had died, they maltreated and tortured the fourth in the same way. And when he was near death, he said, "One cannot but choose to die at the hands of men and to cherish the hope that God gives of being raised again by him. But for you there will be no resurrection to life!"

Psalm: Psalm 17:1, 5-6, 8, 15

Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2:16 -- 3:5

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

Gospel: Luke 20:27-38

There came to him some Sadducees, those who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the wife and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and died without children; and the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died.

Afterward the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife." And Jesus said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die any more, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to him."

Reflection
By Nats Vibiesca

They say death arrives when one least expects it. This is true as to the sudden passing away of our friends and relatives that caught us by surprise especially if they are very young and healthy. In the book “Preparation for Death” by St. Alphonsus Liguori, I first encounter the Latin memento mori  (remember that you will die). I was a junior in high school when I asked “Am I ready to die?”  But St. Alphonsus says that “With its cares and pleasures, the world is occupying too large a portion of our time and thoughts”. But Facebook, Twitter or any social media, games, movies and other perks of the internet are not the kind that preoccupied our thoughts in the 80s. I thought I was too young to prepare for death. That’s all I can remember about the book of St. Alphonsus. The truth is: I’m scared thinking about death. Uncertainty of destination lurks my mind as I imagine death coming to me without warning.

But the Gospel gives us the assurance of the resurrection of the dead. Worrying about death and final destination should not be the main concern of our lives. God has provided our destiny to rise in glory to be happy forever with the Creator. To waste our time here on earth in making our earthly bodies beautiful but our soul sinful, eternal death shall be reserved for us. On the other hand, life spent in honesty, faithfulness and loving heart, like Jesus’ glorious resurrection; we shall regain more than any earthly beauty. We shall rise with glorified bodies. Without the hope of resurrection, our faith on Jesus will be useless. We profess in the Creed that we believe in the resurrection of the body. Living a holy life should be our response to keep the faith we believe in.  

Life of holiness is not always easy. But it’s possible. Like the hope in resurrection, the grace to saintly living comes from God. 

Prayer

Dear Jesus, help us to always do God’s will and hope for the promise of resurrection when we die. Our life will be more meaningful in Your grace and love. Protect us from things that may harm our body as well as from temptation that may destroy our faith in rising again in glory with You. Amen.