Death is indeed a daunting ordeal that shatters our deepest longings for happiness. This unnatural separation of the soul from the body—the ultimate consequence of original sin—was not God’s will, since He created us for life, and life in all its fullness.
When faced with death, repulsion is a normal feeling
Anything that threatens life stirs within us the feelings of anguish and fear, which are profoundly human. The Son of God himself experienced this existential anguish in Gethsemane, faced with the imminence of his own death—to the point of sweating blood.
The fear Jesus felt was for us. He truly took on our flesh, with all its weaknesses and sufferings, and He bore them to the very end to save us from them.
Believing in God means having the assurance that we are never alone, that Jesus is by our side through everything we experience, even in the utter solitude of death.
Believing in the Resurrection changes the way we view death and gives it meaning
With Christ, we have passed through the frightening tunnel of death, and we have emerged victorious into the light of life. Death, now behind us, is no longer the annihilation it appears to be. It has been transformed into a passage, a birth into true life. It is no longer a leap into the void, but into the arms of our Heavenly Father, who loves us unconditionally and welcomes us with His forgiveness.
This is the victory of our faith: it transforms death into resurrection, and fear into hope. It gives strength, peace, and joy even in the midst of trials.
Faith is not, however, the opium that numbs all suffering
But now that we have overcome it, it is less overwhelming. The nature of death has not changed—it remains an evil—but we know through faith that God can bring about the greatest good of all from it: eternal life.
However, it takes time for this victory to become a reality in our lives. And often we succeed only after a long struggle, with the help of grace, in accepting to be stripped away by death, in living it out in faith and love as an offering, in the hope of a reunion, an embrace with the God of life. Then it will be possible to sing with Saint Francis: “Praised be You, my Lord, for our sister, bodily death!”
It is often only after a long struggle that we will be able to face death with the hope of a reunion, of an embrace with the God of life.
Sister Jeanne-Marie (Article published in the magazine *Chemin d’éternité*, No. 300)
