Posted by The WORD in other words (2009) by Fr John O’Mahony SVD – Christ the King Seminary, Quezon City
Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Image : Wikimedia Commons
The feast of St. Joseph has a very personal significance for me. This dates back to March 18, 1996, not long before the end of my time as parish priest of Sacred Heart Parish, Kamuning, Q.C. Late in the evening on that day the nearby Ozone Disco burned down, killing over 160 young lives. It was early on the morning of March 19 that we priests of the parish were called to the scene. The horror that I witnessed at the site was beyond what I could have imagined. So powerful was the impression on me that many years after that brings out strong emotions within me when I remember the scene.
As I reflected on the feast of St. Joseph on that fateful day of 1996 I could not get off from my mind that Joseph is known and loved as the patron of a happy death. And I remember while preaching the homily at the evening Mass of the feast day, I had feelings of great anger and sadness at the denial of a happy death to those young fire victims due to the criminal neglect and corruption of many of their elders. I felt that God will surely call to account all those who in any way contributed to the disaster that night.
As time went by, I began to see that it is not enough to only look at the external circumstances of death in order to understand what a happy death means. Death is not always easy, even under more normal circumstances. But so often it is not normal at all. Indeed the death of millions from those wars and other human cruelties in our history had been tragic at best, cruel and evil at worst. How can we speak of “a happy death” in such circumstances?
To see the full meaning of a happy death we need to look beyond this life and see what our faith tells us about eternal life. Only then can death be seen as a victory. The ultimate expression of this victory as the gift of our celebration of the Holy Week. This is the victory of Jesus in his death and resurrection over the worst that the power of evil could inflict on him. It was his glorification by his Father. I would like to believe that when a human cruelty denies people a dignified and happy death, our loving God will always open his compassionate heart to receive them into glory to share in the victory of Jesus.
On this date of the Ozone Disco disaster, let us pray, through the intercession of St. Joseph, for a glorious eternity for its victims and for all the millions who are so cruelly and prematurely robbed of life here on earth. Let us pray also for the conversion of the perpetrators of evil. Without conversion they are in gravest danger of a very unhappy death as they prepare to meet their Maker.
One comment