Volume 33

Memento mori is Latin for “Remember you are mortal.” or “Remember that you will die.” The phrase is engraved atop the mausoleum in Mt. Hope Cemetery, and countless other tombs around the world, to remind people of their own mortality. But few people today want to confront the inevitable, unlike times past when death played a pivotal role in everyday life.

According to Wikipedia, Memento mori was first used in ancient Rome when victorious generals paraded their plunder and new captives. A slave would stand behind the hero, calling out the sober warning to remind the general his triumph could be fleeting.

Such admonitions were found throughout ancient literature. Carpe diem or “seize the day,”said the Romans. In Isaiah 22, the prophet chides God’s people for ignoring their sins. “Instead, you dance and play... ‘Let’s eat, drink and be merry,’ you say. ‘What’s the difference, for tomorrow we die.” (v.13) Paul echoes that passage in 1 Corinthians 15:32, saying we may as well follow that philosophy if the resurrection is bunk.

But among believers who embraced the rising of Jesus, Christian art kept mortality visible. It contrasted the hollowness of the earthly with the holiness of the eternal. It brought to life the words of John who says, “Stop loving this world and all it offers you... For the world offers only the lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see and pride in our possessions. These are not from the Father... And this world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever.” (1 John 2:15-17)

To drive home that message, wealthy families in the 15th Century had cadaver tombs which depicted the decayed corpses of the departed ones. The Grim Reaper was often shown carrying away both rich and poor. In colonial America, gravestones often pictured skeletons or angels snuffing candles.

In public places, clocks had inscriptions such as “Perhaps the last hour. ”Some automated German clocks had figures of Death striking the hour, and people often carried personal momentoes of their own unavoidable end. Mary Queen of Scots, for example, had a silver skull-shaped watch. An even starker sign of how death was accepted in earlier times was the custom — soon after the camera was invented — of taking and displaying pictures of the newly-deceased.

Today, our culture does everything possible to deny, delay or downplay the reality of death and eternity. Some people can’t or won’t talk about it. We use euphemisms like “pass away.” And even at most funerals, talk of the afterlife is banished or relegated to a few trite cliches.

the neglect of earthly responsibilities, the philosophy that says we’re here for a good time, not a long time can be even more damaging. It easily opens the door to myopic, me-centred behaviour that leaves no room for accountability or consequences. It ignores the spiritual in a world that desperately needs something more than the immediate and material can offer. And it jeopardizes the souls of those who look upon a casket and never think outside the box.

That’s not to say Christians don’t know how to have fun or shouldn’t enjoy all the wonderful things life has to offer. As Solomon says, “A wise person thinks much about death, while the fool thinks only about having a good time now.” (Ecclesiastes 7:4) But he also says, “Life is sweet... Enjoy every minute of it! Do everything you want to do; take it all in! But remember that you must give an account to God for everything you do.” (11:7,9)

Let’s keep in mind that heaven is real and we all want to be there. “Remember that you will die.” But more important, “Remember that you will live!”

By Rick Gamble. Published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of the followers of Christ congregation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications. To subscribe to this free weekly article, send a note to Rick at rgamble@bfree.on.ca