The morbidity of my favorite phrase is really what makes it my favorite. Too often in this day in age death is an afterthought, something normal people don't talk about or think about, until they really have to.
I say screw that! Death is going to happen for all of us and we need to remember that. One big reason why churches are empty nowadays is for this very reason. We don't think about death and by the time it catches up to us, well, sorry, it's too late. If more people thought about their death and then in turn the afterlife churches and masses would be in much higher demand. Is that why most of the people at daily mass are 30 to 40 years older then myself? Is the reality of death and the need for forgiveness something that the majority only realize after they are "over the hill"? It shouldn't be that way, but seems like it is.
Maybe I did a disservice by not using my favorite phrase...
I've had the conversation with people in my new community about what to do if death is looming. Hearing from a couple people that should they ever be seriously injured or in distress to call a priest before an ambulance has caused some self reflection for myself. These people understand that death is it and ya, it's going to happen, so make sure the good old fashioned, but not used anymore term of extreme unction is there before a paramedic is even on the road.
The severity of having an unforgiven mortal sin on your soul at the time of death registers with very few.
Since the application of ashes is meant to signify our realization of our own sinfulness and mortality, we should all look more like this on Ash Wednesday anyways...
Just a couple of thoughts about this posting.
ReplyDeleteRelative to the older age of many church goers, it was a book by Fr. Benedict Groeschel which explained to me by this is not a bad thing. A doctor of sociology, Fr. Benedict explained that it is part of the human mind to assimilate facts and reach new conclusions --- gain wisdom. He said that the early years of human life are about gathering and learning many facts and experiences, but it is in later years that the mind makes sense of these things. Sociologists state that ages 45-65 (probably later now) are some of the wisest years for the human mind, after gathering much data, before mental decline with aging. In fact, he pointed out, when the average age of death was about 45 in the Roman Empire, the Roman Senate, which advised Caesar, required you to attain 60 years of age to enter! (And most of our young people don't know that our own Senate requires a minimum age of 40 for entry --- and even if they did, they'd not understand why).
Relative to "we're all going to die", I think the important thing to make note of is "that is what we live for." This has been a change in our culture (and youth education), in that we no longer teach why we live --- for eternal life, which was bought for us by Jesus Christ. Our schools teach children how to live for the now, and only their definition of right and wrong matters, because there is no other Judge of right and wrong, and no Judgement. And whether older, or younger, we need to present that wisdom to our children.