Daniella would like to clarify one of the comments she made in her talk, when she said ""There's nothing worse than death because it's final." She adds the following explanation: "it was meant purely in the sense of this life (that death can "appear" final as a human/raw experience). The words I used were more of a description of my own personal experience of losing a sibling. "I realised immediately after the talk that I should have caveated that statement with the Catholic doctrine that 'in death, life is changed not ended' and that is absolutely what we believe and put our faith/hope in. In fact, I did have the following bullet point included within my notes - but as is often, you don't end up sharing everything prepared (for whatever reason - time constraints etc): "Christian hope consists precisely in this: that in facing death, which appears to be the end of everything, we have the certainty that, thanks to the grace of Christ imparted to us in Baptism, “life is changed, not ended”, forever. Buried with Christ in Baptism, we receive in his resurrection the gift of a new life that breaks down the walls of death, making it a passage to eternity... The reality of death, as a painful separation from those dearest to us, cannot be mitigated by empty rhetoric. The Jubilee, however, offers us the opportunity to appreciate anew, and with immense gratitude, the gift of the new life that we have received in Baptism, a life capable of transfiguring death’s drama." (Spes non Confundit, paragraph 20)
Daniella would like to clarify one of the comments she made in her talk, when she said ""There's nothing worse than death because it's final." She adds the following explanation: "it was meant purely in the sense of this life (that death can "appear" final as a human/raw experience). The words I used were more of a description of my own personal experience of losing a sibling.
"I realised immediately after the talk that I should have caveated that statement with the Catholic doctrine that 'in death, life is changed not ended' and that is absolutely what we believe and put our faith/hope in. In fact, I did have the following bullet point included within my notes - but as is often, you don't end up sharing everything prepared (for whatever reason - time constraints etc): "Christian hope consists precisely in this: that in facing death, which appears to be the end of everything, we have the certainty that, thanks to the grace of Christ imparted to us in Baptism, “life is changed, not ended”, forever. Buried with Christ in Baptism, we receive in his resurrection the gift of a new life that breaks down the walls of death, making it a passage to eternity... The reality of death, as a painful separation from those dearest to us, cannot be mitigated by empty rhetoric. The Jubilee, however, offers us the opportunity to appreciate anew, and with immense gratitude, the gift of the new life that we have received in Baptism, a life capable of transfiguring death’s drama." (Spes non Confundit, paragraph 20)