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Death is one of the toughest areas for spirituality, yet
also the most wonderful.
How can our beloved ones, so filled with the spark of
life, so suddenly be gone from us?
Afterlife? Let us face it, the culture of the Western
world is filled with unbelief about afterlife. Some people
say there is no such thing. As a popular song once put it,
“If that's is all there is, then let’s keep
dancing.” And as the 19th century philosopher
Nietzsche wrote, “God is dead and we have killed
him.”
 In response, I quote a pungent cartoon from years ago
that showed two pieces of paper, one of which said,
“God is dead, signed Nietzsche.” The other
said “Nietzsche is dead, signed God.”
Here is a poem about life and death. The poet is
Rabindranath Tagore, former poet laureate of India. This
poem is #71 in his Crossing.** He was not a
Catholic or a Christian. Yet what he wrote can awaken
those of us who are.
I remember my childhood when the sunrise,
like my play-fellow,
would burst in to my bedside
with its daily surprise of morning;
when the faith in the marvelous bloomed
like fresh flowers in my heart every day,
looking into the face of the world
in simple gladness;
when insects, birds and beasts,
the common weeds,
grass and the clouds
had their fullest value of wonder;
when the patter of rain at night brought
dreams from the fairyland,
and mother’s voice in the evening
gave meaning to the stars.
And then I think of death,
and the rise of the curtain and the new morning
and my life awakened
in its fresh surprise of love.
I am always thrilled when I come to the last four lines. I
expect the word “death” to mean cancellation
of the beautiful, the marvelous, the meaning, the
mothering that most of us reach for. This poet knew
better. Love undergirds everything, even death.
Listen to the priest’s opening prayer this Sunday of
All Souls.
As our faith in your Son,
raised from the dead, is deepened
so may our hope for resurrection for your departed
servants
also find new strength.
To put it another way, please tie life after death, our
hope, tightly and irrevocably to the resurrection of
Jesus.
Every “fresh surprise of love” in our lives is
Christ-given. Every one consists of fondness-enfleshed,
like the patter of rain at night. If Christ was love
enough to last through death, then let us adhere to that
love, even as we suffer or die.
It is within us, no matter how many losses we have. No
matter how harsh the world may act, still, in the depth of
each and every person, there dwells the source of life,
the place of home where God resides.
So, how can a friend or family member be filled with the
spark of life and then have it suddenly go out? By being
welcomed directly into the arms of God even as Jesus
himself was when he died. God helps us to full, complete
readiness for his arms, something we have traditionally
called purgatory. It can be compared to loving parents
helping their child to grow.
To say it simply, “life after death” is
nothing less and nothing more than love. And God is love.
__________
*These readings were chosen from the Masses for the Dead,
Lectionary #78, for use in the on-line lectionary’s All
Souls Mass. Other readings from those for the Dead may be
used instead.
**Contained in
Collected Poems and Plays of Rabindranath Tagore
(NY: The MacMillan Company, 14th printing 1971), p. 223.
Unfortunately, this book is out of print.
Crossing was originally published with another
book of poems, called Lover’s Gift, and both
collections can be read online
here.
John Foley S. J.
Write me an
email! I'd like to have a discussion with you about
this.
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