I have a lot of different thoughts racing through my head today, and none have really coalesced into a BLOG. At times when this happens, I just decide to publish a BLOG from the past; yet I did that yesterday and I don’t like to do that too often. Hmmmmmm, there is one thought that we might want to follow around for a bit….. it’s life after death.
Even our secular society seems to respond to stories of people’s “near death experiences”. There have been a number of books over the last years about people that “technically died” and then later returned with amazing stories. You may have heard of some of these…. the book and movie ”90 Minutes In Heaven” was very popular a few years ago; others included “My Time In Heaven”, “Heaven, An Unexpected Journey”, and more. Even CNN did a special on a number of people who “died” and returned with amazing stories, including Mary Neal, an orthopedic surgeon, who “drowned” during a kayaking trip on January 14, 1999.
While some of the people involved were Christians, others were not. Certainly our Christian faith can tell us a lot about the four last things… “death, judgement, heaven, and hell.” Death and our future after death is certainly a topic that’s vitally important to everyone. I guess if you’re an atheist you may not think much about it …. but I wonder how many atheists there really are, especially when your time of death is near. I think if we’re honest, almost all of us have a bit of nervousness when death is around the corner.
Jacques Fesch († 1957) was a murderer who experienced a profound conversion before his execution in a French prison. He wrote these words shortly before he died. “I put all my cares at the feet of the Blessed Virgin, and I am sure that she will help me so that my anguish will be turned into joy. It is very difficult to get used to the idea. There is something terrifying about passing so swiftly from life to death…. Our sins are shown up in the divine light.….. and then we should remember too that our corruptible flesh will rise on the last day, incorruptible. We will have glorious bodies and will be like the angels! May we all be able to say with our Lord, I have finished the work you gave me to do; my Father, glorify your Son.” (Magnificat, Sept. 19, 2023) Fesch approached his impending death with wonderful faith and honesty and courage.
Today is the Memorial of St. Andrew Kim and Companions, mid-19th century Korean Martyrs. They heroically faced torture and death rather than deny their faith in the Lord. Their witness inspired others to convert to Christianity and eventual martyrdom. Mareuko Jeong Eui-Bae, had seen death many times, but in witnessing Andrew Kim and others give their life to the Lord, “Jeong saw something completely new: an astonishing joy in the face of torture and death. His past studies had given no hint as to how to face death, much less to embrace it with the joy he saw on the faces of those missionaries that day.” Jeong later gave his life as a martyr at the age of 72. (Magnificat, Sept. 20, 2023)
So, let us not dilly dally in our preparation for our moment of death. It will come for each of us. Like Jacques Fesch and the Korean martyrs we can approach it with confidence and joy because of our faith in Jesus Christ who has paid the price for our salvation. And remember that “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1Cor. 2:9) And that is really good news.
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