…and the Life of the World to Come

***Spoiler Alert for The Good Wife***

The Good Wife is a Sunday night drama about the intricacies of law, life and love. I first became hooked a year ago after watching an episode with my mom. It’s her favorite show, and is now mine. Until last night. I can’t decide if it’s still my favorite show or if I will never watch it again. You see, last night the producers had one of the main characters killed in a crossfire in the courtroom. It was unexpected, to say the least, and it was a bold move that was both raw and refreshing.

Will Gardner is the lead male role. His relationship with the lead female role, Alicia, has been a mainstay story line weaved in and out of each episode. And now he’s dead. Dead, I say. I honestly couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it play against my screen. Will’s co-worker and friend, Kalinda, turns the hospital sheet down and there he lay, lifeless. A cold corpse covered in blood. Our friend, our mentor, our confidant is gone.

Now for those of you who don’t watch the show, it would be similar to losing Lucy or Linus in Peanuts or Sam Malone of Cheers. It just wouldn’t make sense.

But it’s for that very same reason that I found it intriguing and it makes me like the show so much more. The producers get it. It doesn’t make sense when someone who is healthy, young and full of life to die unexpectedly. They wanted to reach into real life experiences and this is it. Killing off a main character in the middle of the season without any warning, well that, unfortunately, can be reality. We all know of at least one person who has been taken suddenly by death. We do not often have the chance for a last goodbye. You don’t have the chance to prepare for it. It just happens and you have to learn to live with it.

Yes, it’s only a television show, but that is why I give the producers props. Instead of letting Will move across country to another firm, they do something unexpected. It’s exactly because Will is one of the two leading characters, that it makes his death so raw and so relateable. We can feel what the other characters feel when they pull back that sheet to find his body still. We know the emotions, because we’ve been there. There is no sugar coating it. When someone is gone, they are gone.

This June it will be three years since I received a phone call. It was my sister-in-law. “Your dad has been in a car accident and they don’t know if he’s going to make it.” I spent the next 45 minutes reaching out to family, various priests and friends requesting their prayers. Kneeling and praying myself, I was overcome with peace, knowing that whatever the outcome, my father was safe. Either safe on earth, or safe in the Father’s arms. My father did make it; he is a living miracle. But that phone call changed my life. Death can come in an instant.

Death will come to all of us one day, whether it be somewhat expected in terms of an illness or old age, or not. It will happen. And that is why the way we live our lives today matters. That is why we must spend time in prayer each and every day. That is why we must try to grow in virtue, in truth, in kindness. Death does not escape us and we can never, I say never, be sure if today is our last. I’m convinced that someone reading this will experience the unexpected passing of someone today or this week. It will come as a shock. It will be raw. It will not be refreshing. But it will be a reality that they will have to deal with. A character on television is fictional. We may feel connected to them because we have seen their successes, their failures, their love and their fears. We come to know the character and that is precisely why it relates to our own life. It is a stark reminder that this is exactly how life can play out. We can lose those closest to us, in a matter of moments. And this is precisely why we must ‘live like we are dying’ because today could very well be our last.

This past Sunday at Mass as we recited the creed, I was struck by the final line: and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. We can place our hope in Christ and in his words of everlasting life. We have hope for life after death. We have a home to which we are headed. One that awaits with the angels and saints, and Christ himself. Take some time today to thank God for the gift of your life and for the lives around you. Draw near to God in prayer and in the Sacraments. Let us prepare for an eternity with him tomorrow.

“So you want to know the best time to serve the Lord? It is the present time, which is in your possession here and now. The past is no longer yours; the future has not come yet and is uncertain. The best time is really the present, which you should spend in serving God. If you want to recover lost time, do your best, with fervor and diligence, in the time that still remains to you.” — St. Francis de Sales