Thursday, January 08, 2009

A good and faithful servant goes home

Fr. Richard Neuhaus now travels in elephants. May he spend eternity basking in the Lord's light and warmth.

Particularly poignant is this essay Fr. Neuhaus wrote back in 2000. I think it touches on an aspect of the faith that doesn't get talked about much. These days, we think of life and death in the same way the culture around us does: life good, death bad. But to the Christian, death is not the boogyman we fear sneaking out of our closet. It's not something to be pursued, but it is to be embraced when it arrives at God's behest, because it has no sting. Fr. Neuhaus' time was ripe, the Lord came for him, and everything worked as it should. Those who are left mourn for their loss of him, not his loss of life.

"He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." For the hopeful Christian, life and death are not opposites.

Akubra tip to Mark Shea.

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