Pax et Bonum: On Fear of Death

To fear losing that which I must inevitably lose anyway is a strange waste of time. Better to rejoice in that which I have begun to gain and inevitably will realize in full.

Reflections

Matthew 7:15-23 15 "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? 17 "So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19 "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 "So then, you will know them by their fruits. 21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'

"As you believe, so will it become to you." St. Matthew 8:13

The paradoxes of beginning -

These paradoxes reside in the fact that one can never fully begin, though one is already begun. This realization is fundamentally retrospective: it is only by remembering in the right way-and avoiding remembering in the wrong ones-that we come to inhabit our state as ‘being begun.’ This lesson is also the primordial form of grace. (Paffenroth and Kennedy- Augustine, p. 3.)

Pax et Bonum

Sunday, August 17, 2008

On Fear of Death

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