Memento Mori: “In Whatever You Do, Remember Your Last Days’’
Lent 2020 focused on a global pandemic of lockdowns, fears, and sacrifices aiming toward an Easter renewal and resurrection
CHICAGO — Believers — and non-believers — have spent a month focused on death, disease, and fear, second-guessing every step. Trust is scarce.
Walking through the Windy City, we “discovered’’ Pauline Books and Media and three smiling sisters exuding love, joy and peace. Their featured book, perfect for this locked down, stay-at-home, 2020 Lenten Pandemic?
“Remember Your Death: Memento Mori.’’
“You are going to die,’’ the book begins. “The moment you are born, you begin dying… You are dust and to dust you shall return… At Mass, we consume the Eucharist, the Body of Christ. This Body is not the body of a corpse but rather, the living, risen Body of our Savior, who has vanquished death.’’
“The Cross changes everything.’’
A pandemic has had the world focused on death and disease
Lent, the time when Catholics remember the sacrifices and death of Jesus Christ began on February 26, when there were 60 cases of coronavirus in the United States. A month later there would be 55,243 U.S. cases, 438,749 globally.
On March 11, the World Health Organization declared the pandemic and President Trump banned U.S. travel to Europe for 30 days, through the end of Lent. We got “Remember Your Death’’ from the Pauline nuns three days later.
Numerous restrictions followed to slow/stop the spread of the virus
More than 150 million Americans are locked-down along with the U.S. economy. Catholics across the United States and even in Italy are unable to celebrate Mass or receive some sacraments. Trump just set a Lenten goal: “I’d love to have the country opened up and raring to go by Easter.”
The White House and Congress have agreed to a $2 trillion stimulus deal to resurrect the economy and help Americans through the crisis. Resurrection: the meaning of Easter itself, to be reborn, to rise from the dead.
“Begin with the end in mind,’’ Stephen R. Covey, argues in his second of “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.’’
“At least once daily, cast your mind ahead to the moment of death so that you can consider the events of of each day in this night,’’ — St. Josemaría Escrivá.
Author Theresa Aletheia Noble, FSP, began “Remember Your Death,’’ by taking to Twitter with a practice as old as Christianity itself. It’s grown into popular devotional books and a free version where she offers the following steps:
- Remembering death to truly live. “God is not some being that comes into existence, but Existence itself, God is Life,’’ she writes.
- Remember our goal: eternal life. “When we allow God to love us, the love energizes our lives and prepares us for the afterlife.’’
- God sustains us in life. “We have all tried at one time or another to find fulfillment or security in other human beings. But disappointment always awaits. No one but God can quench our thirst with living water, because no one but God created us.’’
- God wants to heal us. “Jesus wants to constantly heal us with His grace, but so often we turn away. We say we want to prioritize being healed by Jesus, but how we actually spend our time reveals what is important to us.’’
- God has mercy even in our most humiliating moments. “When faced with the real responsibility of death… Peter cowers in fear, but at least he follows Jesus at a distance… God will bless the little we do and help us grow in holiness…’’
- Generosity of health should never be limited. “Jesus Christ has made death the doorway to eternal life. Jesus tells us how we should live in order to reach eternal life… In serving the vulnerable, we evade death and find true and lasting life.’’
- Our lives depend on God. “We believe more in our self-sufficiency than we do in God’s goodness. But self-sufficiency is a myth.’’
- The “pretty good person’’ ideal. “When we ignore our sin, we either live in false piety, mediocrity, or evil.’’
- Never cease forgiving. “To be Christian is to live in continual forgiveness… Relationship is key to the spiritual life… Ultimately, God is the one who gives us power to forgive.’’
- Jesus had power over life and death. “The Cross awakens us from the slumber of of our sin and pours us on God’s saving grace.’’
- He measures them against himself. “Death without a Savior is a tragedy. With Jesus, death becomes an invitation to a beautiful eternity with the one who made us.’’
We focus on anxiety and fear — but we have already died…
“The reality is, at some point, one moment will be our last moment,’’ says Father Mike Schmitz. “Remember you have already died, been crucified with Christ, so the life you live now is not your own. We experience so much anxiety and fear but what if you have already died? Remember you have died, remember you will die.’’
