The Trailblazers of ChristmasНамуна

Jesus
Memento mori.

Remember . . . your death.

Over the last millennia of church history, this phrase has made its way through monasteries worldwide.

The blessed James Alberione, the founder of the Daughters of Saint Paul, kept a skull on his desk as he wrote to keep his mortality ever before him.

Saint Benedict, in his Rule of Life, encouraged monks, “Daily hold up death before your eyes.” This is a dictate many monasteries have taken literally, with cemeteries on site and an open, empty grave dug as a constant reminder of their inevitable place of rest.

Some Catholic priests even today carry with them in their bag, a skull (not a real one . . . usually) to remind them that from dust they came and to dust they shall return (see Genesis 3:19).

In the age of self-actualization and radical individualism, we have constructed lives that are immortal in theory and ignorant in practice. We’ve pushed death to the far, dark corners of our society. Gone are multigeneration homes in favor of nursing homes and long-term care facilities for the elderly.

Bottom line? We have shifted our life’s gaze. No longer is our focus on the end. Rather, we simply revel in the present.

This sort of perspective falls woefully short of what’s offered to us. It is Jesus Himself who says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, . . . who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8, NIV).

Alpha and omega are sometimes translated as “beginning and end.” This is a word picture because alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet and omega is the last. So, God is transcending the bounds. He’s first and last. Beginning and end. Michael Gorman, one of the leading scholars on the book of Revelation, says it this way in his incredible book Reading Revelation Responsibly: “This is theology in poetic mode for a pastoral-prophetic purpose.”[1] This is God defining Himself. This is who He is.

The point?

JESUS IS LORD.

Jesus is Lord. Over yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Jesus is Lord. Over your fears. Over your doubts. Even over the grave (death) itself.

Jesus is Lord.

Today, we are offered in an invitation into life and life to the full. To enter into an intimate relationship with a Savior who’s Lord over your past hurts and regrets, who’s present to you now in this moment, and who holds the keys to victory in the life to come. So, memento mori—remember your death—because from dust you came and to dust you shall return—but through Jesus, everlasting life awaits.

What a beautiful perspective to live in today.

[1] Michael J. Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly: Following the Lamb into the New Creation (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2010), 82.