by Bishop James Conley
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
(1 Cor 15:55)
As we reflect back, we recall last year at Easter the entire world was in a very different place. In fact, the world was in an unimaginable place. Most of the world was in lockdown and people were completely isolated from one another.
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic spilled over into our liturgical practices. For safety reasons, confessions were offered through drive-thru windows and in large open-air rooms.
In order to stop the spread of the virus and to avoid overflow in the hospitals, bishops throughout the world made the difficult decision to close Masses to the general public for a short period of time. This is a decision that has been made infrequently throughout the history of the Church, but has precedent during previous pandemics.
The Easter Triduum liturgies, spanning from Holy Thursday to the Easter Vigil, were celebrated with few or no congregates. I spent Holy Week last year with my good friend, Bishop James Wall, Bishop of Gallup, N.M. It was just the two of us, the rector of the Cathedral and a young newly ordained priest. It was very strange; I will never forget it. There was something deeply saddening with the fact that the Catholic faithful could not gather together for the holiest and most important days of the liturgical year.
The virus remains somewhat mysterious. We’ve learned over the course of the past year that it affects different people in different ways. While the virus tended to affect adversely those with underlying health conditions the most, that’s hasn’t always been the case. Some who are otherwise very healthy people contract the virus, and some have had severe complications and have died. Others who have underlying health conditions contract the illness, but face few health challenges.
Over the course of the past year, there was a genuine and legitimate fear of what would happen in contracting the virus. If I contract the virus, what will happen to me? Will I die? Thus, a sobering consequence of the pandemic is that we have been forced to think about death and our mortality.
We would have probably never chosen to reflect on mortality over this past year, but it has very much been on our minds. Over a half a million of our fellow Americans and nearly 3 million people throughout the world have died due to COVID-19 and its complications.
Death is not something that we want to think about. We have within us the desire to experience good and beautiful things in this life. We want to live forever. We also know, at least in the back of our minds that our time on earth is limited, and the pandemic has perhaps reminded us of this. And yet we believe wholeheartedly in those words of St. Paul, where he seemingly taunts death, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:55)
There is unquestionably a temporal sting of death. We all experience it. I experienced this sting personally this past December with the death of my 92-year-old mother Betty. Not a day goes by that I don’t remember her, and I miss her dearly.
When we mourn the loss of a loved one, we are most certainly sorrowful. It’s perhaps the most painful thing that we experience in this world. We recognize that we will never see our loved one again here on earth. We may be showered with memories of the person, but we are still left with grief.
My family and I have been comforted during the past few months with the overwhelming love and support we received since the loss of my mother. I received so many cards, texts, emails, and in-person condolences, expressing prayers and support, for which I am eternally grateful.
But even these beautiful gestures of condolence don’t take away the ultimate sting of death; they don’t claim victory over death. Jesus Christ is victorious over death and takes away its sting through his suffering, death and resurrection.
Jesus came into this world to conquer death. And this is what Holy Week and Easter are all about. Jesus, the Son of God, the second person of the blessed Trinity, was sent to our world from the Father to die. But not just to die. He came to conquer death by rising from the dead on the third day. He came so that all who believe in him might also rise.
As Catholics, we believe that every Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection. That is the reason that Sunday is set apart as a day of celebration and rest in the Lord. But, Easter and the entire Easter season is a special time to celebrate and rekindle our faith in the resurrection.
In his Easter Vigil homily last year, Pope Francis said, “On Easter we acquire a fundamental right that can never be taken away from us: the right to hope. It is a new and living hope that comes from God. It is not mere optimism; it is not a pat on the back.... No! It is a gift from heaven, which we could not have earned on our own.... Let us not place a stone before hope.”
These are timely words from our Holy Father, especially as we are still in the midst of the pandemic. There are inevitably many “stones” placed in our lives—difficulties, challenges, and obstacles that are before us. Pope Francis offers us the liberating words that we have a right not to let these things overwhelm us. We have a right to rejoice in Christ’s resurrection. We have a right to long for eternal life that our Lord has promised us.
Alleluia! Jesus Christ is risen! This is the good news that is heard around the world and settles in the heart of every Christian. May the steadfast love of Christ fill your hearts and your homes this Eastertide! His love and the hope given to us through his Resurrection is the cause of our joy.
