HE WILL DESTROY DEATH FOR EVER

PRAYER MOMENT 

Monday 3 November 2014, All Souls

HE WILL DESTROY DEATH FOR EVER

                     

Pause. Be still in God’s presence.

Reading: “On this mountain he will remove the mourning veil covering all peoples, and the shroud enwrapping all nations, he will destroy Death for ever.” (Isaiah 25:6-9)

Reflection. Sometimes, when people are happily chatting, news arrives that someone has died. The tone of the conversation suddenly changes and people become solemn and sombre. It is understandable. After all, Death is the great enemy, the destroyer of relationships and hopes. But the solemnity and fear surrounding death does not quite mirror the Christian belief that Death is now conquered. Its power is broken. It does not reflect the words of Jesus in John 6, for instance, ‘The will of him who sent me is that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, and that I should raise it up on the last day.’ For the Christian death is just the final journey we make into the presence of our Father. It is a going home. When Fr Michael Hannan was dying in 1977, after forty years of labour in Zimbabwe, three of us called to see him in St Anne’s. As we entered the room he looked at us and said, “Wonderful!” and then he died! How could we be solemn at his funeral?  

Prayer. Lord, you have transformed death and taken away its sting. Help us to live joyfully knowing that death is only a door into your presence. Amen.  

David Harold-Barry SJ