Entry XV--Perfecting the Hatred of Life

BEFORE THE TIME OF HUMANITY...

The bountiful food and intoxicating drink flowed among the guests at Osiris' court. The king of the gods was pleased that all his guest were enjoying themselves at his banquet. Yes, even his treacherous brother Set, who was perpetually plotting against him.

Isis, the queen and Osiris' wife, never trusted her brother-in-law for a moment.

And with good reason, for even this day of celebration witnessed no pause in the sun god's treachery...

Set was seated at the table, going on and on about this incredible coffin he had received as a gift. He said he had never seen such quality of craftsmanship.

Soon, his boasting was not enough and several guests persuaded Set to have the coffin brought before them.

Set gladly obliged, as this was all part of his plan...

SOME 2,500 YEARS AGO, THE ACHAEMENID EMPIRE

The sun blazed over the Persian dawn.

The Zoroastrian holy man emerged from his tent after an intense night of worship.

Hundreds of curious Persians gathered around his dwelling, cautiously awaiting his words....


A FEW YEARS AGO, ST. AMBROSE CHURCH, CHICAGO, IL


The boy, Roger, approached the massive doors of St. Ambrose's Chuch, with a mix of apprehension and excitement, ignoring the chill in the early January air.

He was never here alone and when the church was empty before in his short life. St. Ambrose's Elementary School was on Christmas vacation and the church is relatively quiet during this time outside of scheduled masses.

He found the door on the right to be open, just as Father Peters had promised it would be.

With all his effort, the smaller framed boy pulled open the door and entered the church.

Made his way past the seemingly endless rows of pews (like everything else when one is a child, a church like St. Ambrose's seemed bigger than it really was), the boy to the front, parallel to where the balconies end.

And where the angular Father Peters was waiting for him.

"Hello, Roger, I hope you've been looking forward to this private meeting as much as I have."

"Yes, Father Peters, I have."

Though what Roger wasn't telling the good father, was that he was nervous about the two of them being caught doing this...

Set, the scheming god of the wind and the desert, had his servants bring the coffin to the banquet hall, and it soon was--perhaps a bit too quickly.

And the coffin was indeed impressive, constructed of the finest wood and painted beautifully.

And then, the usually selfish Set was overcome by a wave of generosity. He told the partygoers that he would give the coffin to whomever fit precisely in its dimensions.

Naturally, the great king Osiris was given the first opportunity to lie in the coffin.

Isis wanted to cry out for her husband to reconsider, but she did not want to spoil the festive mood with her personal prejudices.

But moments later, Isis regrets her hesitancy; as Osiris lies into the coffin in which he fits perfectly (because Set had already deceptively obtained the king's measurements as part of this plot), Set signalled for half of his worshippers to nail the coffin shut and for the other half to hold back the rest of the guests before they could rush to Osiris' defense.

The scheme worked, and Osiris was imprisoned in the coffin.

Despite the mighty god's forceful attempts to free himself, the coffin lid would not budge and he was imprisoned helplessly.

With a wave of Osiris' hand, his followers carry the coffin out of the banquet hall...

The holy man made sweeping gestures with his arms, to quiet the ever-growing crowd.

"You should all take heed to the revelation I am about to impart. I have received a vision from our one lord, Ahura Mazda. And he has brought me some portentous news!

"I speak of something that the founder of our faith, the legendary Zoroaster, only hinted at in the Gathas section of our sacred text, the Avesta .

"Each and every one of you is capable of...spiritual salvation. It is no longer merely the province of the king and the priest. Your existence indeed will go on after death. On the fourth day after the death of the physical body, the soul departs it. From this day forward, all rituals pertaining to death will be concerned with the salvation of the soul, not the body."

With that, a thunderous roar swept over the crowd with the promise of spiritual salvation for all!

He sensed the lad's trepidation and sought to reassure him, "I understand you might be nervous about this, son, but it will be beneficial for you in the long run."

Roger nodded his head slowly in silent acknowledgement.

Then, and this is the part Roger never forgot, Father Peters leaned forward, and said, "One thing Roger, this, what we're doing here, it has to remain a secret between just you and I."

Father Peters looked Roger deep in the eye, as deep as he can ever remember being looked in the eyes, and the Father said, "Some people might get the wrong idea about what we're doing. Do you understand, Roger?"

Father Peters put his arm around Roger's shoulder, for an added measure of reassurance.

Roger looked down, but just for a moment, then quickly elevated his chin to the level where his eyes met Father Peters: "Yes, I understand, Father."

Father Peters unfurled an even broader smile, once wrought with expectations, and exclaimed, "Well, then, there's nothing keeping us from getting started!"

And down to the banks of the River Nile, where the crypt was promptly dumped per Set's instructions.

The grieving Isis overcame her sorrow and emarked on a desperate search for the coffin that held her beloved.

Back at the place, Set saw fit to take over the suddenly empty throne.

After a few miles down the banks, Isis spotted what looked to be a piece of Osiris' royal garments. With a mix of worry and hope, the goddess rushed on ahead.

Tragically, she found that the coffin had been smashed during its haphazard sojourn down the rushing river...

And a hundred yards down, her eyes were saddened the lifeless form of Osiris was floating down the river.

Dispensing all personal safety, Isis entered the waters to retrieve the body of her husband. She took a deep look into those eyes of his that once shown so brightly and could not bare to see them as extinguished. She closed them forever gently with her palm.

Knowing that the evil Set was now in power, Isis had to regard herself as a renegade, not a queen, and promptly hid it in a marsh, behind a thick gathering of reeds.

As if to balance out the thunderous enthusiasm of the swelling masses, Zoroaster issued his next words as a solemn caveat, "But your spirit may also be condemned to damnation in the next life! And to be damned is to dwell where the demons dwell.

"To be damned is to inhabit a place of eternal darkness, with no hope of seeing the light until the day comes when all evil is finally defeated. And know, that day when good triumphs absolutely will come, but before it does, your soul will serve an interminable prison sentence a thousand times over."

And the vast majority of people shuddered in fear at that prospect. Those who did not were either not bright enough to comprehend the concept of a spiritual afterlife or were cynics waiting around to hear if the salvation is really any better than the eternal prison sentence.

Father Peters took Roger by the hand and lead him a few feet in front of the wall underneath the balcony. There he directed Roger’s attention to the first plaque above their heads. It was the first of the Stations of the Cross, the image of Christ being pointed at by Pontius Pilate, symbolizing Christ being put to death by the Roman governor.

With a calculated measure of pride in his tone, Father Peters said, “You know, Roger, a lot of people don’t notice the stations like they do other imagery in the church, like the stained glass windows, especially when the sun is shining through them, or the massive crucifix behind the altar, but the stations of the cross truly depict the events that form the foundation of our religion.”

“Is that right, Father?” Roger asked all wide-eyed and curious.

“Why yes of course, christ’s sacrifice to save all of us from our sins.”

“How did christ dying do that, father?”

Father Peters paused, glancing about the room, as if maybe something in the church he would lay his eyes upon would provide the answer: “That cannot be explained in the course of one afternoon I’m afraid, my son.”

Why did Roger get the impression that Father Peters really didn’t know, or at least, he couldn’t explain it very well?

“Let us instead focus on what happened that day, beginning with the first station---christ being condemned to death.”

Another question comes to “So, even though christ was put to death, and that was, uh, a terrible thing, but it was kinda necessary, right?”

“Yes, it was all part of God’s plan, Roger.” The father felt more comfortable handling that one.

“Now, let’s take a look at the next station, shall we?”

Roger, already captivated by the imagery, not to mention receiving a free personal guided tour of the Stations of the Cross, gleefully skips over to stand under the next station, having to hold back his energy, he doesn’t want to spazz out in front of the Father.

But Set had spies everywhere in his new kingdom and it was just a matter of time before he was informed that Isis had retrieved his enemy's body.

When Set was told by one of his select operatives the location of Osiris' hidden body, he personally went to seize the body....

But upon arriving at the marsh and discovering the deity's corpse, he was so overcome by his all-consuming rage for his brother that he furiously ripped the body into shreds...14 pieces to be exact.

Isis was beyond distraught at this further degradation to her husband's godly form. Driven by a will stronger than her own, Isis waded through the Nile to retrieve all 14 pieces. She managed to evade Set and his army of spies and sucessfully bandaged the remnants of Osiris back together--and in doing so, created the first mummy, long before the Egyptian people adopted this practice. The restoration of Osiris' body also ensured a proper, dignified burial for the former king of the gods.


Zoroaster took to elucidate his flock, “Ahura Mazda is the beginning and the end. Ahura Mazda is the uncreated Creator of all things material and spiritual.

“And as the creator of the material, Ahura Mazda has declared that all physical creation runs according to His master plan. Any violation to the order Ahura Mazda has established is a violation of Ahura Mazda himself!”

“And all such violations will be punished by our Lord and Creator, during the time of personal judgment. And I have already informed you as to the severity of that punishment!

"Why are their 14 stations, Father?"

Father Peters hesitates before answering, “A Pope in the 1700’s decided it would be that number, because various numbers of stations were used by Christians throughout the years.

Once again, it seemed like the father was unsure of the very words he spoke

But Roger couldn’t focus on that, as Father Peters had already moved on to the second station, in which the crucifix is given to christ.

“This is as important as any the early stations, for this is where the most powerful image of our religion comes into the story, the crucifix that Christ will die on, the act that proved God's eternal love for all of mankind. That he would give up his only begotten son to save everybody's immortal soul."

Roger’s confused, why did Father Peters say ‘story?’ Isn’t a story something that is made up?
But Roger promised himself he wasn’t going to ruin this with all his questions, so he put all doubt out of his head and just listened to the priest.

The other gods were so impressed by Isis' devotion that they convened to use their great powers to restore Osiris to another form of existence--as the lord of the underworld.

Osiris appeared before his faithful wife Isis in his new resurrected form, shining as bright as the sun in all his glory.

With the back of the same hand she once used to close Osiris' eyes in death, Isis had to partially shield her eyes from the brilliance of the born again Osiris, before he descended back into the underworld to rule until the end of time itself.

There was a time when Isis look with sadness at the time of her demise, but in seeing the transformation accorded Osiris, she looked forward to the day when she would achieve eternal existence, not to mention being reunited with her beloved husband.

As the gathering broke up after the high priest was finished presenting the revelation, most people went back to their work. Some went to tell their friends and relatives the good news about eternal salvation, while the less optimistic in the crowd looked to issue warnings.

But one man, standing alone in the space that had been packed with people just minutes earlier, could only wonder if he should kill himself immediately.

After all, hadn't he--and everyone else--been told that there is an eternal life in paradise awaiting them?

He pulled a knife from the inside of his robe and stared down at the blade, reflecting the scorching sun overhead.

But then he put it away, for he was confronted by the paradox that while death would bring him closer to the afterlife, it might not necessarily lead to salvation. For did not Ahura Mazda preach 'good thoughts, good words, good deeds?'

Suicide could hardly be considered a good deed, especially for such a selfish motivation.

Even these thoughts of his weren't good. And that was how he would achieve this 'life everlasting'--by adhering to Zoroastrianism morality. If that's what it took to ensure that he would never truly die, than so be it. From this point forward, his life would be dedicated to living according to the dictates of Ahura Mazda.

It could not hurt, he thought to himself.

And one by one, Father Peters took Roger through the stations, until they reached number twelve--where Christ died on the cross.

Roger felt sad as he looked up at the plaque portraying Jesus' death. He didn't like that such a good man should have had to suffer so much.

Roger felt slightly numb when hitting up the thirteenth and fourteenth stations, the final one depicting Christ being laid in the tomb...

...the tomb he would rise from by Sunday morning.

One question surfaced in Roger that he couldn't refrain from asking: "Father Peters, why is there no fifteenth station showing Christ's resurrection? Isn't that more important"

For the third time, the good father was at an loss for words to adequately explain: "Well, it's...um, just that the stations pertain to the crucifixion--the events of Good Friday. As you well know, the resurrection was on Easter Sunday."

Roger shot a glance back over his shoulder at the twelfth station, then immediately twisted his head to stare long and hard at the life-sized crucifix and received the answer Father Peters couldn't provide:

The death of Christ is the most important thing about Christianity. After all, it's not an image of christ rising gloriously from the cave-tomb, surrounded by trumpeting angels--it's the dead Christ, hanging hopeless, helplessly from the crucifix.

And as much as christ is remembered for rising from the dead, he's first remembered for dying.

Roger, being a bit of an optimist, despite his questioning nature, always focused on the resurrection. But the resurrection wasn't in the stations of the cross, and the resurrection wasn't hanging behind the altar.

It was the first time Roger felt himself disturbed by the crucifix.

But he wasn't about to forsake it (not at this age, anyway).

On the contrary, that afternoon emboldened Roger's faith in a way it hadn't been previously. He started going to church by himself every Sunday morning, since his family wasn't much interested.

Instead of being so optimistic, Roger became a little more faithful. He kept a close eye on that twelfth station and the crucifix behind the altar. They reminded him he could die, and he didn't want to be a sinner and go to Hell if he should die.

His renewed commitment to Catholicism didn't last, but that clandestine tour by Father Peters seemed to leave an indelible mark of self destruction in the lad, the legacy of his Christian faith.