Qoheleth, the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes, might be thought of as the Eeyore of the Bible. Don’t worry, he seems to say, things will get worse. Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come. He says “all things are vanity,” all things of this life are passing away so don’t put any worth on them. There is a long practice in the Church called, in Latin, memento mori, remember that you are going to die. In this tradition meditating on your inevitable death in the future will help you to make the right choices in the here and now. However, unlike the pessimism of Qoheleth, a gospel reflection on death is not discouraging. Jesus kept warning his disciples about his approaching death so that they wouldn’t be shocked when it happened. For Easter people, death is not the end but the introduction into a deeper and fuller life in God.
