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In Overcoming Death
It’s been over a month since Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine, dragging the world into a dark abyss of violence and misery. This is a barbaric and senseless war, killing numerous innocent people. He acts as if he is possessed by demons. War criminals act that way, causing untimely and tragic deaths of millions. The Ukrainian famine (1932-33), caused by Joseph Stalin, which is known as the Holodomor, a combination of the Ukrainian words for “starvation” and “to inflict death,” claimed the lives of 3.9 million people, about 13 percent of the population. And, unlike other famines in history caused by blight or drought, this was caused when a dictator wanted both to replace Ukraine’s small farms with state-run collectives and punish independence-minded Ukrainians who posed a threat to his totalitarian authority. We hope and pray that this kind of history is never allowed to repeat itself.
It is troublesome to note certain inability to reform and repent among these tyrants and dictatorial governments, undermining and destroying all the good things while failing to admit their own culpability, which may paralyze their ability to act and think properly. This reminds me of Caravaggio’s painting of Judas Iscariot’s taking of Jesus, in which Judas’ eyes are totally dark without any hint of light. When I saw this actual painting years ago, I found it genuinely scary and unsettling.
Perhaps this type of spiritual paralysis, resulting in the impairment and loss of moral and spiritual judgment, enables them to commit war crimes and wanton violation of human rights. But they do not have the final word, but God does. They will have to meet the Judge and give an account of their acts before Him. So many people die in cruel and tragic ways, but that is not the end of their stories. Death may seem so final and terminal. But we say it is liminal, namely, it is the threshold to pass to another stage of life.
St. Paul confidently pronounces: “If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the One who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit dwelling in you.”
Having opened a new possibility to a Samaritan woman, having endowed a man with a gift of sight, Jesus today restores life to a man who was under the firm grip of death in the tomb. Jesus commands: “Lazarus, come out!” and tells others: “Untie him and let him go.” Finally, Jesus overcomes even death.
Through the indwelling Spirit, we are freed from the bondage of sin and even death. Jesus wants to untie us from the bondage through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. Let us plunge into the life-restoring mercy of our loving God in frequenting these Sacraments! May we overcome the sense of despair and grow in solidarity with those in misery! May the Lord give the necessary consolation and hope to all those people in the clench of death!
Fr. Paul D. Lee