"Whoever looks at Christ on the cross will find peace in its entirety."
Everyone who receives the gift of life is familiar with the fear of death. And all those who found a narrow path that led to true and eternal life saw Christ turn the fear of death. The apostle Paul, who was many times in the balance of death, following in the footsteps of his crucified Lord, proclaims:
“Because to me, life is Christ, and death is gain. If life in the flesh bears fruit for my cause, then I don't know what to choose. "(Philippians 1: 21-23)
Such times are a test of whether we can say the same or not. It is easy to say: "life is Christ, and death is gain", when life for Christ costs us little and death seems to be far away.
It is another thing to say the same thing when the disease spreads and we, or one of our loved ones, can inevitably die. Is death really good news for those who love Jesus? COVID-19 gives us a new reality in which God says again: "Life after death is better, much better than even the most beautiful life on this earth."
Death itself, of course, is no better. It is a horror and an enemy to be hated. But with Christ, death also becomes a servant: the door to the absolutely beautiful and completely secure presence of Jesus, forever.
Death is gain, not because the experience of death is less likely or less sad, but because death gives us, because of the One to whom death gives us. Will we face the uncertainty of our days with a courageous love for what death now means to us?
Paul knew that death is better, much better than many years on earth. But she also knew what to do with the days she had left, no matter how many there were.
“I want to be resolved and to be with Christ, because he is incomparably better; and staying in the flesh is more necessary for you. And I really know that I will stay and stay with all of you for your success and joy in faith ”(Phil. 1: 23-25).
With the same strength with which he wanted to be with Christ, he gave himself up for the souls that surrounded him, working, sacrificing himself and risking his success and joy in faith.