U
Unexpected_Dawn
Guest
I totally agree that our society is a Culture of Death, and it’s horrible and really needs to stop.
But I’ve learned something else about our society too. You see, last year, I lost my 25-year-old fiance in an accident. Which is simply one of those things we’re all subject to as creature with these frail mortal bodies. It’s part of the human condition, the experience of mortality. As such, although I don’t believe that God personally inflicts accidental deaths or terminal illness or the like upon individuals, it is natural. Just like old age.
And it scares the **** out of people!!! People in our society are all for death when it serves their purposes, but when a natural death occurs, society turns it’s back, shuns it, denies it–not only the fact of death itself, but even the people who must face it and deal with it–people like me and my fiance’s friends and family and my own friends and family too!
Our society hates natural death, and it hates loss and grief and mourning. Shun, or at best ignore, the widows, orphans, and the devastated family and friends. But bring on the abortions, executions, wars, rape, illicit and deviant sex, drug abuse, hatred, reckless driving, divorce, violence, and the media and “entertainment” that glorify all the above and then some! Not to mention the ways people will cling to and try to prolong their own lives at the expense of others–or at least cling to and try to prolong their youth. **Basically, the Culture of Death comes down to selfishness, cowardice, vanity, and arrogance. **
I just think it’s such a tragic irony… But it does make sense, because after all, in a very real way, natural death is part of life, maybe even the most important part of human life–it’s really a second birth. Even though it’s been so hard coping with my loss, I do understand that death is really an amazing, beautiful rite of passage into something much more wonderful than we can even imagine. I know without the least doubt that my fiance is well and that, like the Lord, he is never far from me.
It’s still hard, but I don’t hate death, and I don’t hate mortality. I don’t hate grief either, although it certainly puts one through the wringer! Never have I felt closer to God than in my grief. For whatever pain and suffering I’ve felt, I know the Lord has borne the brunt of it for me. He didn’t just suffer for humanity in the past—He constantly suffers with us and for us. He sustains us. And there’s nothing sad about that! :yup:
The Eucharist is the ultimate symbol of His constant presence and suffering and sustaining. But I have to say, when you face a loved one’s death and the grief that follows… sometimes, often at the very worst of times, you realize that it’s like seeing the Lord’s face and truly feeling His arms around you. Not to say that it isn’t an extremely difficult, trying, and sometimes hellish experience. But the bond between you and the Lord is made so strong… it’s hard to explain!
Em, sorry to ramble on.
But I’ve learned something else about our society too. You see, last year, I lost my 25-year-old fiance in an accident. Which is simply one of those things we’re all subject to as creature with these frail mortal bodies. It’s part of the human condition, the experience of mortality. As such, although I don’t believe that God personally inflicts accidental deaths or terminal illness or the like upon individuals, it is natural. Just like old age.
And it scares the **** out of people!!! People in our society are all for death when it serves their purposes, but when a natural death occurs, society turns it’s back, shuns it, denies it–not only the fact of death itself, but even the people who must face it and deal with it–people like me and my fiance’s friends and family and my own friends and family too!
Our society hates natural death, and it hates loss and grief and mourning. Shun, or at best ignore, the widows, orphans, and the devastated family and friends. But bring on the abortions, executions, wars, rape, illicit and deviant sex, drug abuse, hatred, reckless driving, divorce, violence, and the media and “entertainment” that glorify all the above and then some! Not to mention the ways people will cling to and try to prolong their own lives at the expense of others–or at least cling to and try to prolong their youth. **Basically, the Culture of Death comes down to selfishness, cowardice, vanity, and arrogance. **
I just think it’s such a tragic irony… But it does make sense, because after all, in a very real way, natural death is part of life, maybe even the most important part of human life–it’s really a second birth. Even though it’s been so hard coping with my loss, I do understand that death is really an amazing, beautiful rite of passage into something much more wonderful than we can even imagine. I know without the least doubt that my fiance is well and that, like the Lord, he is never far from me.
It’s still hard, but I don’t hate death, and I don’t hate mortality. I don’t hate grief either, although it certainly puts one through the wringer! Never have I felt closer to God than in my grief. For whatever pain and suffering I’ve felt, I know the Lord has borne the brunt of it for me. He didn’t just suffer for humanity in the past—He constantly suffers with us and for us. He sustains us. And there’s nothing sad about that! :yup:
The Eucharist is the ultimate symbol of His constant presence and suffering and sustaining. But I have to say, when you face a loved one’s death and the grief that follows… sometimes, often at the very worst of times, you realize that it’s like seeing the Lord’s face and truly feeling His arms around you. Not to say that it isn’t an extremely difficult, trying, and sometimes hellish experience. But the bond between you and the Lord is made so strong… it’s hard to explain!
Em, sorry to ramble on.
