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Death: Our Birth into Eternal life Damian Lenshek |
The following article is the next installment in a series that will appear in the Catholic Herald to offer catechesis and formation concerning end of life decisions, dying, death, funerals, and burial of the dead from the Catholic perspective.
Death has taken a prominent place in the headlines this past year, as in the public consciousness.
Daily death counts are now part of every day’s news. |
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In this column, I have been reflecting on the kerygma, the essential Gospel message of salvation, love, and mercy which is the heart of our faith.
To be effective evangelizers, each of us baptized into Christ needs to effectively communicate what our Christian faith means, how we have experienced the Lord, and why everyone is invited to the abundance of Jesus’ life and grace, freely offered to all.
The third movement of the kerygma is the whole Christ event, as God’s gracious response to our existential predicament of condemnation to the power of sin and death.
Compassion is love’s response to misery and suffering, and so the Father could not bear to leave us lost in the darkness of eternal estrangement from Him.The following article is the next installment in a series that will appear in the Catholic Herald to offer catechesis and formation concerning end of life decisions, dying, death, funerals, and burial of the dead from the Catholic perspective.
“I can’t do it!” my four-year-old son cries out in frustration as he suddenly scrunches up his artwork to his chest.
His masterpiece, a brightly colored partially crayoned alphabet, is now a ball of crumpled paper, mashed beyond redemption.
“It’s okay,” I say, trying to calm his tears. “I can help you.”
Slowly I coax the ruined masterpiece from my son’s angry fingers, smooth the jagged creases, place my hand over his to guide the creation of the letters he’d wanted to be just so.
“You are still learning,” I tell him. “It doesn’t have to be perfect.”
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| Fr. Gregory Ihm |
In 1793 began the Reign of Terror in France known as the French Revolution when many priests, Religious, and Catholic lay faithful were murdered because of their association with the Church.
One man had a particular hatred for priests and was famous for his style of execution: slitting their throats. Several years after the Reign of Terror, this man grew old, sick, and weaker.
His wife, a hidden Catholic, called in a priest she knew to anoint her husband because she feared for his soul.
During the 1990’s, scientists discovered two gene mutations in the BRCA family of genes that significantly increase a woman’s chances of developing breast and ovarian cancer.
Caregivers and health care professionals can and often do greatly assist those who are suffering and dying. Even with careful pain management and comfort measures, however, the dying process can still be agonizing and difficult.
Each death has a unique and particular trajectory, but even the most difficult and unpleasant deaths often have powerful graces and remarkable opportunities for growth mysteriously interwoven into them.
