“Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song” –Pope Saint John Paul II
At the time that this article is written, we are still in the Easter period. By the time that this article is published, at some point in May, it will still be Eastertide. Christ is risen - Christ is risen indeed - so let us be glad and let us be joyous that our Savior has risen from the dead. Let’s face it: if Christ did not rise from the dead, he would have been another so-called prophet that was put to death for his radical ideas. It is not enough to limit the Resurrection to a metaphor and it is not enough to pretend that it was just a part of a nice story. Jesus Christ was sentenced to death on the cross, died between two thieves, descended into Hell to free the heroes and prophets of the Old Testament, rose from the dead, walked among us again, and then ascended into Heaven. That is what we believe, that is what we defend, and that is what we should be in awe of every day of our lives. To be Christ-like, among other ways in which to emulate Him, is to assert that death has no dominion because we are an Easter people. We are focused on the Resurrection.
When I was growing up, I attended many wakes and funerals for deceased family members and friends. From an early age I was exposed to the grim realities of death and to face this fact of life head on. How do you explain to a child why his Great Aunt isn’t with us anymore? How do you explain to a teenager that the Grandmother who was the strong Matriarch and glue of his family has passed away? How do you explain to a college student that one of his dearest friends and role models has died very suddenly? How does a young adult face the fact that his parents, his family, his friends, and all the people he loves will one day die? How does he face the fact that he too, will die someday? These aren’t easy questions to answer, and they’re reasons behind why people look toward religion for the answer. In my faith, I have found solace in that I am a member of the Body of Christ and this Body has conquered death.
I am no theologian, nor will I ever say that I have all of the answers to life’s challenging questions. I trust that the thousands of years of Church scholarship have already approached these subjects and offer a much more articulate answer than I ever could. It took a while for sure, but when I was willing to take a leap of faith and trust in God for the answer I found that things made sense. Thankfully, we are subject to the mercy of Christ, a mercy that included walking among us, teaching us how to live, dying for us, and ultimately opening up the gates of heaven to all people. Thankfully, there is an outline in the form of the Catholic Church as to how one can follow Christ’s footsteps and conquer death. It makes sense that if we don’t follow the instructions, we are going to have a hard time and ultimately fall victim to the temptations of Hell, a place void of God (which, suffice it to say, is devoid of love, hope, charity). Hell is not the place to be, no matter what people may try to suggest. To say that you want to be devoid of all that is good is just a blatant lie to yourself and others. We are not meant for Hell, we are meant for Resurrection, and we are meant to be constantly living in the model of Easter.
All of this may seem grim, and frankly, a talk about death is going to be grim and uncomfortable. In navigating our discomfort with the subject of death, we can find the joy that Christ died in order to bring us: we don’t need to be afraid of death. If we are truly an Easter people, death is just another motion toward Eternal Life with the Body of Christ. That Body is the Communion of Saints, those holy souls who dedicated their lives to serving Christ and to serving others. That Body includes our family and friends who have answered Christ’s call to community, compassion, and all things that are good. In dying, we are not alone. That part is particularly important because we must face the reality that we are all probably going to Purgatory first, which is not a bad thing. It is that final purification before Heaven and we, as the Church on Earth, can pray for the souls in Purgatory and help them along their journey. Please always pray for the deceased, as they may need all the help that they can get. The Venerable Fulton Sheen has a beautiful quote on this connection, saying, “As we enter Heaven, we will see them, so many of them, coming toward us and thanking us. We will ask who they are and they will say: ‘A poor soul you prayed for in purgatory.’” There is nothing but love in our call to prayer.
To wrap up this idea and, ultimately, my final article as an undergraduate, there are many things in life that seem to offer the opportunity for despair in a similar manner to death. For example, as a graduating Senior there are many times that I feel like I’m dying in a certain way. I feel like I’m losing a part of my identity and, in a sense, this may be true. In graduating from college and Holy Cross in particular, it seems like a whole world is being left behind. Post-grad seems a type of ‘Purgatory’ before getting a job or establishing myself. It is so common to get into these nostalgic daydreams of desolation as the doomsday clock seems to tick ever so closer to midnight. Yet I cannot stress this enough: we are an Easter People. Graduation isn’t death, it is a resurrection of one’s own self that has been aided by four life-changing years. We don’t have to leave everyone and disappear. We will see each other again and true friendships will last. Death, or rather graduation in this sense, will only have as much power as we will let it. Do we fear it and run from it or do we have the faith and confidence to trust that it is not the end?
I trust that my graduation is not the end of my connection to Holy Cross nor is it an end to any sort of life. I will forever be grateful for the guidance, for the people, for the challenges, for the heartbreak, and most importantly, the outpouring of love from my friends and family. We are an Easter people. We are an Easter campus. We are meant for something greater than death or graduation; we are meant to rise into new life with Christ. May we always be comforted by Christ’s love and mercy and may you, reader, find solace in the victory of Christ over death because you are meant for Heaven and meant to be loved.