-
We often hear and read about many ideas about death. Death is the demise of the organism as a whole. Medicine distinguishes between two stages: Clinical death, which we define as the cessation of vital body functions – breathing and heart activity, but at this stage there is no irreversible damage to the brain tissue. And Biological death, as permanent and life-incompatible damage to brain tissue – at the same time, it is a final and irreversible state. Some say that the death of a person is the end of communication between the psyche and the organism, and many of us imagine death as the moment when consciousness leaves the human body…
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1012) says that the Christian view of death is expressed in an excellent way in the liturgy To the Church: “For those who believe in you, God, life does not take away, it only changes; and when we finish living in a mortal body, we have an eternal abode prepared in the heavens.” Even if we look at history, we see that many civilizations believed that human life does not end with death, but continues in the afterlife. We could talk about death for a long time and find many opinions. We also heard about the death of the son in today’s Gospel. Christ at the gates of the city into which he enters is met by a funeral procession. They carried a boy to the grave, the only child of a certain widow (compare: Lk. 7, 12). The Evangelist Luke does not say anything about the boy’s death. Why did he die? How did he die? Was he sick? We do not learn this information. All we know is that the young man is dead
In one publication I read, there was an article about “small heaven”, where the inhabitants of a small village in southern China chased a starving leper girl out of her home with sticks and stones. A missionary saw a crowd of people, went to the child, took him in his arms and carried him away. People shouted, “Leprosy! Leprosy!” The crying little girl asks her savior: “Why did you take me in?” “Because God created us both. So you’re my sister and I’m your brother. You will no longer be hungry and homeless.” “And how will I repay you?” “Gift people with the same love!” For three whole years until her death, this girl bandaged the wounds of other lepers, fed them, but above all, loved them. After the death of this eleven-year-old child, the sick said: “Our little sky has returned to heaven.” How much love have we given in life? As much as the little girl in this story? If not, we still have time. While we live Me too, you too. When we die, we can’t do anything, even if we really want to.
Brothers and sisters, what is death? So today we started thinking about today’s gospel text. It is an encounter with God – love, which can resurrect us and give us eternal life.
