|| Part One ||

Last week I shared Part 1 of my series “Divorced from the Reality of Death”. I talked about how with the ability to “control” death comes the danger of being controlled by a fear of death. And the danger of placing all of our trust and security in the shaking foundation of humanity instead of the unshakable foundation of God. This week, in Part 2, I am going to address the role of the Church in preparing us for the reality of death.

We learn from Matthew 5:14 that the Church is called to be the light of the world. And Romans 12:2 tells us “ be not conformed to this world; but be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God.”

Furthermore, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states in paragraph 849 “Having been divinely sent to the nations that she might be ‘the universal sacrament of salvation,’ the Church, in obedience to the command of her founder and because it is demanded by her own essential universality, strives to preach the Gospel to all men”

In essence, the Church is supposed to teach us to view life through a bigger lens, to instruct us and remind us that this physical life on earth is only a temporary journey but that our choices here determine where we will spend eternity. And because of this crucial fact, we must not waste any time here on earth. The Church is meant to teach us to live life through the lens of the last four things: death, judgement, heaven and hell. To teach us that human life must be continually evaluated in the light of eternity.

And when you view life through the lens of eternity you realize something drastic: death is NOT the worst thing that can happen to you.

Let me repeat that.

Death is NOT the worst thing that can happen to you or to your loved ones.

While the world teaches us that this life is all we have and death is the greatest tragedy to be avoided at all costs, the Church teaches us that earth is just our temporary home and that we were created for eternal union with God in heaven. With this understanding, death becomes the doorway to eternal life, a source of joy and hope, instead a source of hopelessness and despair.  

I have recently been reading the book “The Fulfillment of All Desire” by Dr. Ralph Martin and he stresses the fact that this biblical and eternal worldview, the one that keeps eternity in mind at all times, is an essential part of the Christian life.  “All the saints have come to know this profound and fundamental truth: that the purpose of our life is the glory of heaven, and the only way to reach that goal is by absolute confidence in God…this truth leads us to redirect our fear from a shortsighted fear of merely temporary loss to a much more wisely placed fear of eternal loss.” ¹

Within this worldview, it becomes clear that damnation to Hell for all of eternity, not death, is the very worst tragedy that happens to a human life.

Keeping this in mind, let’s go back to the mission of the Catholic Church as outlined in the Catechism (paragraph 851) “Indeed, God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”; that is, God wills the salvation of everyone through the knowledge of the truth. Salvation is found in the truth. Those who obey the prompting of the Spirit of truth are already on the way of salvation. But the Church, to whom this truth has been entrusted, must go out to meet their desire, so as to bring them the truth.”

The Church is called to instruct her faithful (and the world) on the truth of the Gospel: teaching us how to follow Christ on the Narrow Way so that we pass through the gates of Heaven. It follows, then, that the Church is supposed to teach us to care for our immortal soul first and foremost. She should be teaching us and reminding us that nothing matters more than our salvation.

Sickness and diseases are nothing new to this world, and it is interesting to take a look at how the Church has responded to them in the past. In the past, when faced with grave sickness, war, or death of any kind, the overwhelming response of the Church was to focus on good works, repentance, fasting and to turn our eyes towards Heaven. Illness was a reminder that this world is temporary, and it was common knowledge that how we chose to respond had eternal consequences.

Pope St. Gregory the Great lead eucharistic processions through the plague-infested streets of Rome in 590 and encouraged and aided in the feeding and caring of the sick. He is quoted saying: “If we tell you this, dear brothers, it is to keep your minds in a careful prudence and vigilance, lest security numbs them, and ignorance keeps them languid; it is also so that fear continually stimulates your minds, and that such stimulant strengthens them in good works … Notice, my brethren, that we are now seeing what we have just heard. Every day, new and growing ills overwhelm the world. See how few of you remain of the innumerable people that you once were; and yet, plagues do not cease to melt on us daily, sudden misfortunes strike us, new and unforeseen calamities afflict us….And so we must be more urgent in seeking after the things of heaven….Put the day of judgment before your eyes, dear brothers, and in comparison, everything that seems painful now will become light.”²

St. Catherine of Siena at the age of 27 took lead in ministering to the plague victims in 1374 in Siena.

St. Charles Borromeo fed the hungry and personally cared for the sick when he was cardinal in Milan when plague broke out in the 1500s.³

These are just a few of hundreds of examples. (Seriously, just google “saints during times of plague” and you will find dozens and dozens of examples). It was those holy men and women who faced death and danger (often against the advice of the world) to care for the sick, to preach repentance, and to bring the sacraments to the people that have been venerated as Saints for hundreds of years. (Interestingly, you’ll notice that we don’t hear anything about the religious or faithful who chose to stay hidden away out of fear or concern for their own physical health and safety.)

For the past year the spread of coronavirus has taken over almost everything. And while I am not surprised at all that the world’s response has been one of fear, control, manipulation and panic, I have been shocked and greatly disturbed by the Catholic Church’s response.

In light of the covid-19 pandemic, the Church in the Western World has largely failed from day one to teach us this fundamental truth about reality, our lives, and our faith. Instead the overwhelming message from our Church leaders and from within our church communities has been one that has focused exclusively on caring for our physical wellbeing and health and the fear of death.

Instead of using the covid-19 pandemic as a chance to call the faithful to deeper conversion, trust, and surrender, the Church instead has preached in word and deed that our physical health comes first and foremost and that we must protect this life at all costs. The church has made compromise after compromise, all masked under the pretense of “charity”, “sacrifice”, and “the greater good”. And a year later we must ask, at what cost? Are we willing to risk our eternal salvation for the sake of a few more years on this earth?

Yes, of course we are supposed to take care of our bodies, protect the vulnerable in our society and do our best to keep ourselves and others healthy. However, there are a few critical things here that are being completely overlooked.

Firstly: physical health cannot come at the expense of our spiritual health. As Dr. Ralph Martin points out “Being overly concerned for our comfort and health is a serious obstacle to making progress on the spiritual journey.”

“When you are sick offer up all your grief, pain, and weakness as a service to our Lord and beseech him to join them to the torments he suffered for you. Obey your physician; take your medicine, food, and other remedies out of love of God, remembering the gall he drank out of love for you. Desire to get well so that you may serve him, but do not refuse to lie ill so that this too you may obey him and prepare for death, if that is his will, so that you may praise him and be happy with him forever.” St Francis de Sales.  

“For if the devil begins to frighten us about losing our health {and death}, we shall never do anything…Strive not to fear them; abandon yourselves totally to God, come what may.” St Teresa of Avila.

Secondly: God often uses suffering for our good and it is not something we should try to escape from at all costs. We cannot forget the power and necessity of redemptive suffering. As I explained in Part One, our modern Western society has been divorced from the reality of death and this division has seeped into the Church as well. What was once accepted as part of divine providence is now seen as something we must seek to avoid at all costs.

Jesus told St. Faustina that “if the angels were capable of envy, they would envy us two things: one is receiving Holy Communion and the other is suffering” (Diary, 1804).

“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18

“What have you to fear from a hand that was pierced and nailed to the Cross for you?… Can we dare to refuse the chalice He has prepared for us Himself.? Reflect well on this. It should be enough to make us accept and love whatever trials He intends we should suffer.” – St. Claude de la Colombiere

I share these quotes to challenge myself as well as you. To remind us all what the Church has taught us for 2000 years.  As I mentioned earlier, sickness, disease, suffering, and death are nothing new to this world, but our Church’s universal response to covid-19 is completely new.

As my roommate recently said, “The Catholic Church is not meant to appease the world but transform it.”

So now a year after this all started, I say it’s time to stop appeasing the world and start transforming it.

I’m going to end with a few extremely thought-provoking quotes from C.S.Lewis’ book “Screwtape Letters”. If you are unfamiliar with Screwtape Letters, it is written from the perspective of an older demon training a younger demon. It is incredibly insightful into the mind of the devil and the pitfalls he sets for us.

“How much better for us {demons} if all humans died in costly nursing homes amid doctors who lie, nurses who lie, friends who lie, as we have trained them, promising life to the dying, encouraging the belief that sickness excuses every indulgence, and even, if our workers know their job, withholding all suggestion of a priest lest it should betray to the sick man his true condition! And how disastrous for us {demons} is the continual remembrance of death which war enforces. One of our best weapons, contented worldliness is rendered useless. In wartime not even a human believes that he is going to live forever.”

“He {God} does not want men to give the Future their hearts, to place their treasure in it. We {demons} do….we want a man hag-ridden by the Future – haunted by visions of an imminent heaven or hell upon earth- ready to break the Enemy’s {God’s} commands in the present if by so doing we make him think he can attain the one or avert the other.”

Let us beseech God to give us the grace, courage, and faith to stand up for what is right and to return to our Churches. To preach through word and deed that time is running out and that this life is not the end. We must run to the Sacraments, stay close to Christ in the Eucharist, fast and pray and remind our brothers and sisters to keep their eyes firmly fixed on Christ.

“The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” – Romans 13:12

_¹ The Fulfillment of All Desire by Dr. Ralph Martin

² https://salvationprosperity.net/pope-gregory-the-great-in-the-time-of-plague/

³https://aleteia.org/2020/03/12/these-saints-know-firsthand-about-surviving-pandemics/