Are you afraid of death? In 1934, a film called “Death Takes A Holiday” had Death himself (played by a handsome film star, Fredric March) come to earth to live with humans and find out why they all fear him. Only one woman does now—Grazia. Her father knows who Death is and begs him to back off. Death agrees and shows Grazia his actual form—to discover she has always seen him that way. Realizing that love is as strong as death, Grazia then goes with Death to the netherworld.
Grazia may have loved Death, but most of us want to avoid him. Many blame religion for all of the war and death in the world. But our first reading from Wisdom begs to differ: “God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living. For he created all things that they might exist….”
This is God saying bluntly, “Death wasn’t my idea, and I hate it when any of my creatures die!” God can only love, and God’s creatures of all types are beings of incredible wholeness and beauty. Sin and death appeared through some rebellion or refusal to trust God’s vision of life.
We can’t understand why God allows evil to co-exist with us. But the miracles Jesus performs mean that Jesus has come to restore the world to God’s original vision. Jesus is the human and divine evidence that God is restoring wholeness of life and love to the world. Don’t become cynical and give in to pessimism and hate—that leads nowhere but suicide and depression. Instead, let everyone we meet hear that death is not the end. When Jesus comes again, Death will be taking a permanent holiday.