FAITH CONQUERS DEATH. DEATH CROWNS FAITH. SOME CHRISTIAN CONSIDERATIONS ON THE THEME OF DEATH
FAITH CONQUERS DEATH. DEATH CROWNS FAITH. SOME CHRISTIAN CONSIDERATIONS ON THE THEME OF DEATH

Summary/Abstract: In the face of death, every human plan and desire pales. Fear and dread replace joy in an instant. Sorrow grips both the one lying on the deathbed and all those surrounding him. How beautiful and precious life appears, especially when observed and contemplated from the deathbed! Unfortunately, all the riches of the world can no longer buy it back, and man's earthly or biological end is truly irreversible. There exists, however, a way to face death: Faith. Where reason stops, faith begins to speak, that courage to hope against what is evident, to see beyond the last breath, to know that life does not end with biological death. Death, without faith, seems to be man's greatest enemy! Under the light of faith, however, death is transformed; it is no longer an abyss but a threshold; no longer a loss or a vanishing into nothingness, but a meeting that every believer awaits. In true faith, death becomes an occasion for encounter with Christ. Thus, the mystery of faith makes death the paradoxical beginning of eternal life. Faith in the Risen Christ gives hope and encourages us, for „Christ has risen from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). „In Christ”, Saint Paul assures us, „shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). Naturally, this concerns all those who believe in the Resurrection.The martyrs bear witness to the power that Faith holds in the face of death. They were people like us, who chose to believe even at the cost of their lives. They placed faith above earthly life and death, for they lived with the conviction that the price of their sacrifice was eternal life. In the light of this ardent zeal, death becomes victory. Death crowns faith. Moreover, death confirms faith. The believer does not fear death, for he is convinced that true life begins only beyond the threshold of death. For him, death is no longer a tragedy. It is a moment of truth, of hope. Instructive, in this regard, is the aspiration of the monk who freely chooses to die to the world or, in mystical terms, chooses to die before death, in order to gain the crown of eternal life after death. Thus, in the Christian spiritual horizon, faith and death are not enemies. Mysteriously, they are bound to one another. Faith does not banish biological death, nor does it abolish it. Biological death crowns faith, making it shine beyond time. The Saints of the Church stand as living witnesses of faith, even though they passed through death. Therefore, the question that should concern us in this earthly life is not when death will come, but how it will find us. Faith teaches us that death cannot defeat a man who has learned to believe and to love; that is, a believer who has grown and lived in communion with Christ, keeping the commandments of the Gospel.

• Details
• Contents