The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-05-05
of A MAN DIE"

Some thousands of years ago the
holy man of Hus looked over the
burning sand of the Arabian Desert
and through his parched lips asked:
Shall a man that is dead, thinkest
thou, live again?' 1t is still the uues-
tion whispered by humanity under the
shadow of death.
Views of the future state have
varied from the fantastic to the
sublime, but all men in all ages, saints
and sinners, sages and simpletons,
have had some sort of faith in life
eternal. The inspired writer's of the
Old Testament had clear visions of
immortality. The pagan world had a
hope, holding as a common belief the
future happiness of the faithful, which
was their inspiration to virtue.
Socrates emphasized this and Cicero
felt it's urging when he spoke of the
| soul of his beloved Cato "often look
ing back" individuals have tried to
rid themselves of "the secret dread
and inward horror of falling into
naught," but even the great American
agnostic confessed that Gin the night
of death hope sees a star and listen
ing earth can hear the rustling OF a
wing"
When death comes at the end of
progressive decay of human powers it
may be ignored and forgotten. Death
in the midst. of life forces itself
upon u attention. All intense
periods in the history of the world
have been times of death and martyr
dom. A human being considered
merely as an animal decays and dies
because it did not live strongly
enough to keep ON. The martyr for a
cause or the warrior in a conflict dies
because he lived too intensely. To
the soldier who sets his breast against
the bayonet, the devotee of humanity
who wears out quickly in the service
because the body cannot endure the
fierce flame of the spirit, death is a
portal which they enter with eager
feet. They go out to meet death as an
adventure. The Christian alone has
more than IAN intimation of eternity
Instead of a yearning he has a posi-
tive assurance that Jesus Christ be-
came "the first fruits of them that
| Sleep" =
The Figure that beckons him is that
OF the Risen Saviour. His life is UNI
reasonable and his ethics foolish
without the realness of immortality.
Every man confronted with the ques-
ton of following Christ is asked to
venture his all on a scheme of life
which is so big that he must be will
ing to yield everything to answer the
invitation. |. is an invitation not to
a great adventure but to stake life on
the certainty of immortality.
1t was his confidence in glorious
immortality born of the Resurrection
that presents the greatest spiritual
phenomenon in history and makes
even the scoffer pause-the transfer
nation in the character of the Cali
lean fisherman. Their dreams of a
new kingdom and their hope of power
and place were destroyed by the
CrucifiXion Of their Leader. They
were huddled together in an upper
chamber, dreading the same fate.
Suddenly they were turned into the
boldest, most unselfish, most fervent
preachers of a Risen Christ, defying
the power of Rome and the priestly
crew of Jerusalem. They testified to
the Resurrection and counted it a
glorious privilege to seal their testi-
mony with their blood. They had
neither the power nor the purpose of
imposters. They welcomed dungeons,
scourgings, fire, sword, burning oil
and cruel crosses, crying with faces
shining like those of angels, in the
words of their earlier prosecutor and
their greatest convert: 80 death,
where is thy sting? o grave, where is
thy ~victory?"
r~AL~~~&