Death Has Lost Its Sting

Death is a defining moment.
     Not an ending but a new beginning.
          Not a disappearance but a new revelation.

Like Adam and Eve we must descend before we can ascend into perfection.
     Like Moses and the burning bush, the fire purifies but does not destroy.
          Like Jonah in the belly of the whale, the whale of death swallows up the human race.

Who can escape death for it is every man's fate.
      Leaving the world of Egypt, we return to the world of Eden.
          At the center of Eden is a tree, the cross.

It is by that cross we come to live with God in paradise.
     As we carry the cross of Christ, death has lost its sting.
          Death is swallowed up by paradise.


(Inspired from the writings of John Behr Becoming Human)