1 Thessalonians IV, 13-18
(But) we do not want to leave you ignorant,
brothers, about those who have
fallen into the sleep of death, so that you do
not distress yourselves as those others do, who have no hope. For as we know in
our hearts that Jesus died and has overcome death through resurrection, so also
will God lead with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For we tell you
this in the word of the lord, that we who are living and are remaining for the
revelation of Christ's presence will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord, himself will come down from heaven at the shout of command, at the
archangel's call, and at the sound of the trumpet of God, and those who have
died in Christ will be the first to rise; afterward we, the living, who are
left, will be caught up together with them in a cloud to the meeting with the Lord in the realm of the air. Therefore, encourage one another with words such
as these.
All Saints Day
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| Evelyn De Morgan |
November 1, 2019
1 Thessalonians 4:
13-18
We know the
story of how the archangel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would bear God’s
son. There is another story that after Gabriel had left, a dark angel, whom Mary
recognized as the angel of death, remained behind. This angel told her that, carrying souls
across the threshold of life, he was every man’s faithful companion, be they
young or old.
The angel said that even God’s son would
have to know death, indeed that He was born so that he would die. These words pierced Mary’s heart like a sword. Filled with
grief’s sorrow, Mary could not understand.
So the angel
of death took her invisibly to a place where an old woman lay dying. After
standing there a while, they heard the woman tell her grieving husband that
although she had seen the dark angel of death again, she was no longer afraid
to go with him; for a smiling child with shining eyes was with him. The child
had touched the angel’s dark wings, and they had begun to shine in all the
colors of the rainbow. This was the most beautiful thing she had seen in all of
her life.*
Christ came
into earthly life, as we do, with death as His faithful companion. With His
superabundant life, He transformed this companion of ours, so that by the time
of His own death, the angel of death had been changed into a being of beauty
and knowledge, a glory that serves ongoing Life even in death. When those who
have died look back on the moment of their death, they see it as the most
beautiful and inspiring event of their existence.
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| Sombart |
The angel of
death gives us the gift of knowledge and understanding on earth. May those who have gone before us, who have
beheld Christ and his companion, send us their inspiration. May our thoughts, our feelings, our devotion
live in the shining life of the Christ Spirit into the times to come.
* from a story
titled, “Mary and the Angel of Death,” by Georg Dreissig, in Das Gold der
Armen, (The Gold of the Poor) Urachhaus
