We attend many funerals during the course of our lives. Kinship, personal sorrow or convention draw us to attend. For our beloved dead, nothing is too lavish. Graveside visits become important, as we feel closer to them. Praying and tending their resting place - all these little tasks speak of the immense love and affection held for them.
So we can easily understand Mary’s pre-dawn visit that first Easter Sunday. It was a risky journey for a woman to take, but love does such things. Unfortunately the rushing and running of that morning is unlikely to be replicated by those attending Church today. We all fasten our eyes too much on the grave and forget the image of the heavens. For attenders at funerals, is it “goodbye” or “until we meet again” as we depart.
The truism; where there’s life there’s hope, is also true in reverse. “Where there is hope there is life.” Life is not a predictable slide into the inevitable for the Christian. For the unbeliever, death is an offer we can’t refuse. For the believer death is a time of God stripping me of everything so that He can give me Everything. Today you’re asked several times “Do you believe?” during the Creed. Answer truthfully, if you dare, “I do.”
(Comments to Tom at stmarysrcathlone@oceanfree.net )