{"id":18546,"date":"2022-09-14T10:15:52","date_gmt":"2022-09-14T15:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/?p=18546"},"modified":"2026-02-09T08:19:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T14:19:21","slug":"vita-ex-morte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/2022\/09\/14\/vita-ex-morte\/","title":{"rendered":"Vita ex Morte"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Loss. It\u2019s a strange word. It implies that you once had a thing and now, not only is it gone, but you can no longer find it. Last night I lost my mom. And yet, is she lost? Is she even gone? My mom was a powerhouse of a woman, and now, she\u2019s gone. Truth be told, I haven\u2019t even begun to process this. But I wonder about the use of the term loss. I lost my mom, I think to myself. \u201cI\u2019m sorry for your loss,\u201d people say to me. But have I lost her? Do the dead leave us? I don\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some, saying the dead never truly leave us means something sentimental. So long as I can remember my mom, she isn\u2019t \u201creally gone.\u201d But memory can only do so much. Yes, when the Father thinks \u2014<\/s> when he \u201cremembers\u201d \u2014<\/s> he does so in such a way that it generates the person of the Son. But I am not the Father. I still don\u2019t think my mom is gone. Death is not the end. It simply isn\u2019t. This is as much a metaphysical reality as it is a spiritual one. My mother\u2019s journey is far from over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Christ
“Christ in the Sepulchre, Guarded by Angels” by William Blake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We have disconnected ourselves from death in this modern age. We have hidden it away. I wish I could be home and give my mother a proper wake; force myself, and others, to spend time in the presence of her body and the absence of her soul. It is too easy to focus on her soul and forget the pains of her body. And the materialists would focus on her the end of suffering for her body but absent her soul entirely. But this is not what we believe as Catholics. The book of Hebrews tells us \u201cwe are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,\u201d and this is meant to be a means of hope. The dead surround us, and because of that the author of Hebrews calls us to abandon sin and run the race that God has set before us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the hope of Christianity: Our dead are not truly dead.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My mom, like all people, was a complicated woman. She was, biologically, my paternal grandmother, who decided to adopt me when my birth mother gave me up for adoption. Every good thing I am today is a product of the grace of God working in that decision. I will forever be grateful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She used to tell me stories of her childhood. My favorite includes her grandmother, who wore dentures but hated the way they fit. She apparently spent most of her time not wearing them but clenching a corncob pipe in her jaw. My mom loved her grandmother. She loved her independence, her hardiness, her willingness to be silly and have fun as she chased my mother around, whipping her with a towel. Then there was the time my mom stole her parents\u2019 car and drove it around, just for the fun of it. I wish I had known her then, or at least gotten more stories from her. And yet she doesn\u2019t live in these memories. She lives in a reality I cannot even begin to comprehend now. But what I do know for sure is that she is not lost. I have not lost her. She has simply moved into a mode of being I cannot engage, but I can sense with something beyond my normal senses. This is the hope of Christianity: Our dead are not truly dead. Christ defeated death. And so I can say with the Apostle Paul, \u201cWhere, O Death, is thy victory? Where, O Death, is thy sting?\u201d Of course it hurts that I cannot be with her as I once was. I do not deny the hurt I feel now. But I have hope, the hope that only Christ can bring as one who tasted death and conquered it by dying. Life will come from death. Vita ex morte<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPerpetual Light\u201d\n\nTough as nails and yet as warm as summer,\nSoft and yet you never would back down. \nYou brought me home and you became my mother,\nAnd so you served for all the kids in town. \nIf you ever buy your tongue, you wouldn\u2019t speak;\nYou always knew yourself and spoke your mind,\nAnd yet your love was not a little leak,\nBut a flood, a flood that changed the wind.\nThrough good you showed us just how much you loved,\nAlways ready to offer up a feast. \nBut you\u2019ll join the feast that\u2019s up above,\nAnd learn to see yourself as first, not least. \nMay He bathe you in perpetual light,\nAnd I will see you when Day overcomes the night.\n\n- David Russell Mosely<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
ABOUT THE AUTHOR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"David<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
Dr. David Russell Mosley is a poet and theologian living and teaching in the Inland Northwest. His debut book of poetry, \u201cThe Green Man,\u201d<\/a> is available from Resource Publications. In his spare time, Dr. Mosley likes wandering around in the woods, spending time in community and smoking a pipe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Loss. It\u2019s a strange word. It implies that you once had a thing and now, not only is it gone, but you can no longer find it. Last night I lost my mom. And yet, is she lost? Is she even gone? My mom was a powerhouse of a woman, and now, she\u2019s gone. Truth...","protected":false},"author":149585908,"featured_media":18554,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2178641],"tags":[4256,214,8437,401,7816,698756078,698756079,1494,698756080],"series":[698756626],"class_list":["post-18546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prayer-and-spirituality","tag-catholicism","tag-christianity","tag-death","tag-faith","tag-god","tag-god-the-father","tag-god-the-son","tag-spirituality","tag-vita-ex-morte","series-messy-jesus-business"],"acf":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/William_Blake_-_Christ_in_the_Sepulchre_Guarded_by_Angels.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/feed\/podcast\/messy-jesus-business","embedCode":"
Vita ex Morte<\/a><\/blockquote>