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By Rf.v. Jerry J. Pokorsky
Special to the Rappahannock News
Generally, we think death is a bad idea. We fear it and tend to avoid the thought of it. Yet we are taught to pray for a “happy death."
We conclude each Hail Mary with “...pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death." We hope and pray for a “natural death." But is there anything “natural" about death?
At first glance, it may seem that while death is unpleasant, it is natural to man. Every person bom into the world has died or will die. Sometimes the only “cure" for terrible suffering is death. When the many miracles of medical science fail, and death becomes a stem prospect, it may seem more like a friend than an enemy.
St. Ambrose acknowledges that death is truly a gift to man after the Fall of Adam because death limits suffering.
In this way we are ambivalent about death. We are relieved when a loved one who has suffered so much finally succumbs to a natural death. But if death is “natural," is it also natural to be horrified by the prospect of death? As children, did not we think we would live forever? And as we grow7 older, do we not become more aware of our mortality with every passing year? It is healthy, normal and natural to love life. Do we fear death because death is essentially unnatural?
When the Lord wept at the tomb of Lazarus, he not only revealed his compassion for his friend, he confirmed what was written in the Book of Wisdom: “...God did not make death, and He does not delight in the death of the living. For He created all things that they might exist...” (Wis 1:13).
Christ wept not only because Lazarus was his friend, He wept for all us destined to die. Christ weeps at the horror of death.
Death is “not” natural. God is the author of nature and all nature is good. God did not create us to die. He created us to live. Death, however, entered the world because of disobedience, that is, sin.
Death violates God’s handi
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