Dear Friends,
Christ is risen! Alleluia! Indeed, He is truly risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!
As someone discovered recently and reminded me, St. Matthew is the patron saint of tax collectors, as he was a tax collector in his former life before called by Christ. He unsurprisingly is also the patron saint of accountants, bankers, and civil servants; he is also the patron saint of perfumers, but don’t ask me why that is. If you already knew all of this, you may have been asking for St. Matthew’s intercession the last couple of days or weeks, as tax day was this past Friday—it’s hard to call it Good Friday when it is also tax day, but we know that our Lord Jesus Christ laying down His life on the Cross brings about a good far better than any money we may receive or pay.
Taxes and death. The idiom is that taxes and death are the two constants in life. We know that our taxes must be filed every year on April 15, and we know that we will die someday and our loved ones will die someday. While we may find paying taxes revulsive (and remember that if you get money back when filing taxes, that simply means you’ve been paying the government too much throughout the year), death has kept a cloud over humanity from the very beginning. It is a specter we can’t escape, which leaves us with fear. That fear may come from being without a person we love; that fear may come from the unknown and uncertainty of what awaits us after life on earth. In his comedy stand-up routine, Jerry Seinfeld had a bit about death being only #2 on the list of things people fear; people were or are more afraid of public speaking, and so Seinfeld proclaimed that at a funeral a person would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy. I don’t think that is true, even if most people are afraid of public speaking.
In the face of death, we are helpless. There is nothing we can do to avoid it. Even the best diet and exercise regimen can only delay it. This is where the great Solemnity of Easter—Pascha in other languages—comes into play. Our Lord Jesus Christ suffered, was tortured, and died a gruesome death by crucifixion, and was in the tomb for three days. Back then, they waited three days to ensure someone was really and actually dead. Jesus was indeed dead, but on the third day, He rose from the dead and lives still to this day. Jesus Christ entered into battle with Satan and with death, and He is the conqueror, the victor over Satan and over death. Christ has overcome death; He is victorious over death. If Christ is victorious over sin, Satan, and death, and indeed He is victorious, then there is nothing in our lives that Jesus cannot do, if only we so allow Him into our lives.
Because of Christ’s victory over sin, Satan, and death, we have reason for hope. Hope is not wishful thinking. Hope is assured expectation. Because of our Lord Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead, we have reason to hope for our resurrection as well. Death is not the end. Death does not have the final say. United with Christ and living in Christ, we, too, can be victorious over death. This is the basis for our hope, for our faith, for everything we do as Catholics and as Christians.
Yes, the passing of a loved one hurts, and we should not ignore the grief and mourning that comes with that loss. At the same time, may we not be afraid of death, but instead live in hope of the Resurrection. St. Paul mocked death in his First Letter to the Corinthians, saying, “Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” He is able to mock death because he knows the consequences of Christ’s Resurrection: “But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
We are saints under construction, celebrating Christ’s victory over death and placing our hope, our assured expectation in the Resurrection. Have a great week!
Christ is risen, alleluia! Indeed, He is truly risen, alleluia! Alleluia!
In Christ,
Fr. Matt