Hope to Die

As much as I want to resist doing it, it is tough to write a post without addressing the elephant in the room. The coronavirus and the resulting restrictions that are being imposed have affected us all. It has even spilled over into the books I am currently reading. Though many were not written intentionally for this period, we are facing, they sure fit nicely into the story line. Such it is with the book I am reviewing this week Hope to Die: The Christian Meaning of Death and the Resurrection of the Body by Dr. Scott Hahn.

Death is never an easy topic for us to face. Unfortunately, we will face it many times. Either it will be a result of loved ones passing away or will be us staring the inevitable down. We will all face death. The key is to remember after this life after we shed this shell we walk the earth with, we are in for one heck of a family reunion. We cannot forget this, and Scott does a masterful job turning our attention to the glories of heaven we all hope to one day enjoy.

Before we enter into our heavenly reward, we have our mortal bodies to contend with. Our bodies are a gift. We are taught that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. It’s in this reality that Scott places this book and affirms the Church’s teaching, which society would rather we push aside. The world in which we find ourselves looks upon the body as a burden. Once we eclipse our “prime,” the body gets old, burdensome, ugly, hard to move, and expensive to upkeep. We as Christians know better, and Scott reminds of this in Hope to Die.

We have a few things that non-believers do not. One of those is the fact that we are created in the image and likeness of God. Scott takes a deep dive into the Creation story to confirm this for readers. He points out that not only do we receive the gift of life in a physical (bios) form but in a spiritual (zoe) form as well. Each of us has a divine life gifted to us by God. It’s what separates from other living creatures, and it is what makes us uniquely human.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ and the promise of our own glory in the afterlife is what sets us as Christians apart from the world. Christ himself promises us two resurrections. Physical resurrection of the body and a spiritual resurrection that we receive at Baptism. The first makes us who we are as Christians; the second makes us complete because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

When the day of our death finally arrives, we also are different. The respect we pay to our bodies after death by giving them a proper burial shows respect and serves as a reminder. Our burials show the world that we hope and in fact, know that we are not done with these mortal bodies. They are more than skin that is shed like a snake. As we bury our bodies, we show that world that we are not afraid of death, but rather we are overjoyed by death. Why? Because we know of the great riches we will have for all eternity. An eternity where you and I and Scott are united as brothers and sisters to share forever in the riches of our heavenly home. Thank you Scott for writing this book that reminds of this. 

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