I hate the way our world speaks about death. Even when you are standing right there in the room with the man as he dies it is insane what people say. Almost immediately they begin to make excuses for death, “Well at least he is not suffering any more.” “Oh don’t you know that his life would’ve been harder if he had lived longer?” “God must have a reason for this, there will be some good that comes form it.” Yeah, well that just plain sucks!
Death is no friend of ours, it tears apart families breaks our hearts and leaves us empty. Death is the last great enemy. When you stand there next to a bother in Christ who is no longer breathing it is overwhelmingly obvious that this is not the will of God. The separation of the soul from the body is a perversion of all that God created.
The only thing that we can do when faced with the reality of death is proclaim the promises of Christ. And this is what we must do! When facing death we stand on a very fine edge sharper than any sword known to man, it seems as if we might fall at any moment. And yet with practice we find our balance on that edge and we scream into the face of Death the words of St. Paul, words hanging on the promise of Christ alone, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:55)