THE CROSS
From the beginning, death has never been at the centre of the
Gospel. Faith begins with the proclamation of a Life more powerful
than death: "He is risen!" It is in the light of the resurrection
that death takes its place in the Christian scheme of things.
Contemplated in this light, death changes its significance. Without
confidence in a Life greater than death, human beings remain
paralyzed by fear, frozen on the edge of an abyss that they dare not
face directly. But by consenting to give his life for love because he
was borne by the certainty of an unbreakable communion with his
Father, Christ took from death its "sting" (1 Corinthians 15:55), the
fear of nothingness: "by dying he freed all those who had been held
in slavery all their lives by the fear of death" (Hebrews 2:14-15)…
Taize