The mystery of death confronts us in many different ways. Is death an evil that we must try to avoid as long as possible? Or is death a right? The first Preface for Requiem Masses teaches us: "Lord, for your faithful people, life is changed, not ended."

The Book of Wisdom sees death as an evil: it cannot be "of God" but came about through the devil's jealousy. Jesus also accepted that illness and death were evils to be overcome with mercy and compassion: he raised Jairus' daughter from death, just as he healed the woman with the persistent haemorrhage.

Our extensive and efficient medical services combat illnesses and imminent death. Some ill people claim the right to die, the right to end their own life. Some people, in the face of all evidence, try to find some elixir to prevent death.

Scripture and common experience both indicate that we have many ambivalent attitudes to death. Like much else in human experience, death is not a problem to be solved but a mystery that calls us to greater faith and hope grounded in the revelation of God.