Death comes when we refuse to love

July 2, 2006 -- 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Bishop Robert Morneau

	Bishop Robert Morneau
	Questions for reflection: 1. What is your attitude toward death? 2. When the funeral bell tolls, what do you think of? 3. If there is no death, would life be bearable?

In one of the most famous lines regarding the mystery of death, John Donne wrote: "Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee."

In the face of death, Jesus said to Jairus, the synagogue official whose daughter was extremely ill, "Do not be afraid; just have faith." From the Book of Wisdom we are given this reflection: "God did not make death, nor does He rejoice in the destruction of the living." And St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians speaks of how Jesus embraced poverty - the ultimate poverty is that of death - in order that we might one day experience the richness of eternal life. Death and life! Poverty and richness! Fear and faith! God's word is laden with meaning.

On July 4, we celebrate our declaration of independence. The founders of our nation were willing to face death rather than to submit to oppression. They, this "band of brothers," had a vision and a scale of values that put freedom above safety. And as we read the lives of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson, we realize the degree of sacrifice that they made for the common good. Death did not deter them. They were willing to risk all.

There are two accounts in the scriptures of Jesus weeping. One was when He heard the news of the death of His friend Lazarus. The second occurred when He looked over the city of Jerusalem, a city on the verge of "dying." Loss causes tears, and death is one of those ultimate losses that throws the soul into grief and mourning. Who is unable to sympathize with Jairus as he stands powerless as his daughter is on the brink of death? His grief is that of all parents in a similar situation. We need not withhold tears as we bid farewell to those who have been important in our lives.

But faith gives us hope. Death does not have the final word. God's plan is for life and the fullness of being. If death is necessary (and so it seems in the human condition), then God can turn it to good use and bring about a graced transformation. We pray in the preface for the dead that life is changed, radically changed, not ended. Faith it is that drives out paralyzing fear. Faith it is that helps us to turn to God and be graced with the conviction of resurrection.

So how did (and how does) death enter the world? Death comes when we turn our backs on life; when we refuse to love; when, instead of being agents of light, we become agents of darkness. Death can be freely chosen. As to our physical death, it becomes a doorway into the fullness of life. The scientist Edward Teller wrote as a youth: "I believe, as I wrote in my diary when I was a sixteen-year-old in Hungary, that without death, life would be unbearable."

The other day a neighbor called our parish office to ask why the bells were tolling. It was because of a funeral and I was tempted to have our receptionist quote the whole of John Donne's quote: "No man is an island, entire to itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the mainland. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee."

(Bp. Morneau is the auxiliary bishop of the Green Bay Diocese and pastor of Resurrection Parish in Allouez.)