Death

• is not an enemy to vanquish,but a friend to deal with.
• it is a universally accepted fact that _____ is the end of our earthly journey.
• The mystery that surrounds death is all about its uncertainty
• Death will surly come, but we can never see it coming
• death knows no boundaries
• Bible says that _____ comes like a thief in the night
• is a gatecrasher
• Their death become a “happy ending” note of life because of their acceptance, humility, and strong faith in God in the midst of execruciating pain and at the imminent prospect of death.
• A renowned author Peter Kreeft puts forward the drama and the enigma of death:
• We all must die but some deaths seem ‘clean deaths’ and ’dirty deaths
• Clean deaths- just right,ready,proper
• Dirty deaths- deaths that raise clouds of doubt like dust into the eyes of faith (1994)
• never ceases to appall us. It always poses itself as a cruel enemy. It stinks.- description of death that Martha gave to Jesus
• Jesus asked Martha where her brother Lazarus is: “Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days” (Jn 11:39)
• Martha and Mary wept for the death of their brother. Jesus saw that the Jews who came with Mary were weeping. Jesus wept, too. This sorrowful scene is an ordinary occurrence in any place where death is.
• We may enumerate the facts that make us see death as a foe, such a the demoralizing pain, the imminent loss of life, the separation from loved ones, the departure from the familiar world, the disgusting tomb, and modt of all, the fear of uncertainty.
• What makes us see the death is foe?

  the departure from the familiar world
• Catholic faith- teaches that death is meaningless only to those who avoid and deny it all cost, but it truly matters to those who confront life in the light of Christian death.
• When we deal with death as a friend, our fear of death becomes holy
• The holy fear of death turns into a light that guide us along the way toward the house of the Father where Jesus reserved dwelling places for us (cf. Jn 14:2)
• The face of death as a friend is the holy face of Jesus whose gaze mean nothing, but His unconditional love for all of us.
• “Indeed, out of love for His Father and for men, whom the Father wants to save, Jesus freely accepted”
• His Passion and Death: ‘ No one takes [My life] from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord’ (Jn 10:18)