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This is "Christ's Appearance to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection" by the Russian painter Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov. (CNS photo/Wikimedia Commons)

Victory over death


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Catholic Review Filed Under: Commentary, Easter, Feature, Wit & Wisdom

Since I’m one of the priests who helps at the Oak Crest senior community in Parkville, I received a call recently that I could come in for my second coronavirus vaccine shot. I jumped in my car, drove down Northern Parkway to Perring Parkway, and then onto the Beltway toward Oak Crest.

As I drove along, I was conscious of all the cars racing past me. I realized that I was going to get the vaccine to save my life, but was also risking my life in all the traffic.

Our lives are always challenged. Cars have certainly been a mixed blessing. While they provide convenient transportation, they also are risky. Many of us of a certain age remember the “old days” in the 1950s when something called the National Safety Council used to predict the number of traffic deaths at certain times: “Five hundred people are expected to die or be injured in traffic accidents this weekend!” Then in radio newscasts over the weekend, stations would keep track of the number of deaths.

I remember the pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Essex, Monsignor C. Carroll Kerr, would get so angry about how human life was just treated as a statistic.

For all of us, life is limited. We resist the ending of our lives. I remember reading some Latin philosopher, perhaps Cicero, who wrote more than 2,000 years ago: “There is no one so old that he or she does not think they can live one more year.”

St. Paul was right when he wrote, “The last enemy to be defeated is death.”

Yet, along with St. Paul, we believe that Jesus was the one who defeated death. The tomb was empty. Jesus was clearly dead after his brutal beating and crucifixion on Friday. But now on Sunday, we hear the words of the angel: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, He has been raised.”

None of us can pull ourselves out of the grave. But Jesus could. And so we put our faith in Him. Fear of death is normal. With human eyes we can only see a life ended.

But with eyes of faith we see the risen Lord. On Easter, we celebrate that death died. We also celebrate that we now share the victory over death with Christ. We celebrate that with Christ we will live forever.

Happy Easter. Happy forever.

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