The hope of Christians

Father Michael Elmlinger

Guest

I have never been able to understand how it is that non-Christians can truly deal with the loss of a loved one. There are certainly many beliefs out there as to what happens to someone when they die. There are those who believe that there truly is nothing after death, that once a person dies, that is it. The person ceases to exist entirely. Such a thought would only lead one to dread death and fear it.

Certainly, there are those who believe in some form of an afterlife, but it seems to pale in comparison to the life that is promised to us by the Paschal Mystery of Christ. Indeed, it is only in the light of Christ that one can truly deal with the question of death and have the hope that death is not the end, but rather a new beginning.

That is what brings us to the second reading of this weekend from St. Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. In this letter, he deals with the question on the hearts of believers of what happens to their loved ones who have died before Christ’s second coming. Will they miss out on this gift?

Paul answers this question by saying, “We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope” (1 Thess 4:13). By saying this, he is emphasizing to his audience that the hope they possess as Christians is different from the rest of the world. While the rest of the world may have some belief in an afterlife, it is baseless since it is not rooted in faith in Jesus Christ’s Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension.

Instead, “if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep… For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.” (4:14, 16)

This response from Paul gets at the very heart of the hope that Christians are meant to have, the hope that Christ has conquered sin and death and that death has no power over Christians. Indeed, this is the only kind of hope that can truly face the question of death and not be met with despair or fear.

The reason for this is the fact that the hope of Christians is strongly connected to the faith of Christians. The faith that we have in Christ naturally leads us to the hope that he offers us in his great victory. That hope leads us to anchor ourselves in the reality that for us as Christians, that at death, “life is changed, not ended” (Preface I for the Dead).

It is the hope that allows us to believe that when our loved ones have died, it does not have to be the end, that there will be a time when we will see our loved ones once again and worship God face to face with them for all eternity. It leads us to hope that even though our souls may be separated from our bodies for a time, there will come a time when the Lord Jesus Christ will rejoin our souls to our resurrected bodies after the pattern of his own glorious body (Phil 3:21).

Certainly, we may grieve for the loss of a loved one, as Christ himself wept at the death of his friend Lazarus (cf. John 11:33-35). However, as St. Ambrose said when he was grieving the loss of his own brother, that hope is what prevents grieving from becoming sorrow that lacks trust in God; that he has indeed won for us that victory over sin and death and is willing to grant to those who believe in him and are a part of him to share in that wondrous victory.

We grieve, but we hope in the cross, in the salvific mission of Jesus Christ. In doing so, we look at death and say, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your victory; O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:54-55)

Father Michael Elmlinger is a priest of the Diocese of Covington, Ky. Father Elmlinger is currently studying Canon Law at the University of St. Paul, Ottawa, Canada.