Acts 2:22-24
"You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know -- this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power."
Quotes from Radical Amazement by Judy Cannato:
Supernovas are the death eruptions of stars.
It is inevitable. Despite all our modern technology and efforts to reverse or stall its coming, each of us has an appointed encounter with death. Nothing in the universe escapes the finality of its clutches.
We live in a culture that fears death and suffers great discomfort in its presence.
We are not even very good with the little dyings -- self-denial, delayed gratification, commitment to stay the course -- that encroach upon our lives and offer the opportunity to build character and define values.
Perhaps this is the expected outcome of living out of "me" rather than "we." Having lost the big picture, it is easy to grip tightly the little things that, in the long run, are of no consequence.
The mystery of life and death . . . How intricately each is bound to the other. How dramatically each teaches us about the other.
While our liturgies separate the various strands of the Paschal Mystery, in truth we celebrate one event, one moment in time in which life/death has been encountered with unique consciousness and freedom.
While death was nothing new and continues to be an integral part of life, Jesus' response to death remains significant, challenging us to consider how we will bring consciousness and freedom to our own death -- and the living that will fill in the time between now and then.
Death has always been a part of the ongoing development of the universe, and it is the image of supernovas that can lead us into reflection on the experience that poses such difficulty for human kind.
It seems that the giving over of life on behalf of ever-expanding creativity is integral to life itself.
We have no choice about whether or not we die, just as we have no choice about whether or not we were born.
What is crucial -- what the Paschal Mystery teaches us -- is that we can choose not to flee from death, but to meet it with grace.
What we all discovered as a result of [Jesus' life and death] is that death -- while inevitable, while altering our dreams and causing us to let go of everything -- does not have the final word.
There is always -- always -- resurrection.
Life and death are a single mystery.
Death is inevitable -- but so is resurrection.
A super nova significant for our future existence occurred about five billion years ago in one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way Galaxy. . . . Tremendously hot fragments began to come together under the influence of gravity, and a new star began to form. We call this star the Sun. . . . Life on Earth is nestled in the life of the Sun. . . . As a result, Earth and all her inhabitants flourish in her radiance.
We can be sure that dyings will intrude upon our lives, and we may have some choice about how we can respond to their coming.
We can be awake and watchful for the resurrections as well, for the creative ways that new life streams into our lives even in the midst of death.
Like supernova explosions that shatter every recognizable fragment of life, we are capable of transcendence, capable of never allowing death to have the final say.
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