THROUGH UNTRUE
We typically fear death, so we devise defensive strategies like denial, forgetfulness, or rationalization to mitigate our fear of mortality. Even when we see vivid portrayals in movies of people dying through illness, wars, disasters, or calamities, we often remain largely unaffected. After all, the deaths we witness belong to others. They are never our own.
Modern funeral homes also desensitize us to the fear of death. Expert embalmers meticulously "prettify" corpses to look "alive.". Beautifully landscaped memorial parks, and elegant columbaria hide the scent of decaying bodies, fostering the illusion that people do not really die, they are just "out of sight."
Likewise, the beauty industry and pharmaceutical giants contribute to our denial of death by relentlessly producing products that delay or conceal the effects of aging, along with medicines that combat fatal illnesses.
Even our language reflects our evasion of death. Instead of straightforwardly stating "He died" or "She passed away," we employ euphemisms like "He kicked the bucket" or "He was called home by God." In Filipino, we use terms such as "tepok," "tigok," or "dedbol" to make death less menacing.
Our inclination to trivialize death profoundly impacts our lives. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross asserts: "It is the denial of death that is partially responsible for people living empty, purposeless lives; for when you live as if you’ll live forever, it becomes easy to postpone the things you must do. In contrast, when you fully understand that each day can be your last, you take the time to grow, to become more of who you really are, and reach out to other human beings."
Our Gospel reading today reminds us that while death is inevitable, we need not deny, ignore, or trivialize it to shield ourselves from the fear it brings. Jesus shows us a way to confront death without trivializing it.
Like a movie spectacle, the Gospel narrates that Jesus, having just informed His disciples about His impending death, "took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them . . . Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; and from the cloud came a voice, 'This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him" (Mark 9:2;7).
Jesus's glorious transfiguration was His way of telling His disciples: "When you witness my humiliation, persecution, and crucifixion, remember what you saw today and understand that death is not the end of my story." Death thereby loses its grip over us because of the assurance that just like Jesus, death is not the end of our story. Our ultimate destiny is not the grave, but eternal life. As the preface of the funeral mass proclaims, "Lord, for your faithful people, life is changed, not ended."
Interestingly, Jesus instructs the apostles who witnessed the event not to disclose what they saw (Mark 2:9). It must be because Jesus wanted His disciples not to fixate on the glory awaiting them but to focus on the challenge of sharing in His suffering and death. He desires them to look forward to a glorious resurrection, but without disregarding the arduous journey leading to it—the agony of betrayal, the sense of abandonment, the anguish and torment of unjust punishment, and ultimately death.
The way out of death is THROUGH it. Only by embracing the challenge of sharing in Christ's suffering and death that we can overcome our fear of death. Only then can we boldly declare, echoing St. Paul, "O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:55).