I have noticed a  disconnect, in recent years, in the way I tend to talk about death and the way many others approach the same subject. I’ll get to the end of a story that I think is funny or  charming, and notice that people are looking at me, not with smiles or laughter, but with grave concern, just because it involved me seeing someone die or dealing with the immediate aftermath of death. To them, it seems traumatic, but to me, it’s just another day in the life. So, as we begin the month of  November, which we have traditionally set aside to pray for the repose of the souls of the dead, it’s a great opportunity to reflect on the tension that exists for us as a people who recognize the natural evil and pain that is death, and yet simultaneously place our hope in Jesus Christ and His victory over sin and death.

St. Paul approaches this theme repeatedly in his     letters to early church communities. Where is death’s sting? Where is its victory? To live is Christ, but to die is gain as well. I imagine most of us do not approach death with this attitude, and so we should ask        ourselves what we can do to adopt the right perspective in a season when nature wilts and fades into winter. I would recommend two major points of emphasis: praying for the faithful departed, and     reflecting on our own mortality. Our point of view towards the end of life would necessarily be transformed if we consistently turn to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to abundantly bestow His mercy on those who have gone before us. When we pray, “May the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace and may perpetual light shine upon them,” or when we prayerfully carry out the rites of Christian burial for those we love, or any time we invoke God’s boundless mercy for the departed, the way we see life and death necessarily changes.

On November 19 at 10:00 am,  we will gather as a family of parishes to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the departed at the St. Clare Convent Chapel in Hartwell, and then process through the convent cemetery to pray the rosary for the departed. I highly recommend you join us to pray and to invite the Lord to transform the way our parishes see the end of this life and the beginning of the next. In addition to the transformation we need in how we look at death in general, we should also invite the Lord to transform the way we see our own death. Many of us simply push it out of mind when it comes up, or we live in dread of our inevitable end. But having sat at the bedside of many people who are  preparing to leave this world, I have seen the incredible fruits of those who have prepared themselves for death. The process of preparing for death is rarely easy or pleasant. Some are prepared because they have suffered greatly, and they have learned not to place their hopes in this life. Others have endured great loss and have come to live in expectation of being reunited with those to whom they have said goodbye. But still others have  prepared for death simply by reflecting on it regularly and asking the Lord to take away their fear and pain surrounding it, or at least to give them the grace they need to endure whatever struggles the Lord may have in mind for them. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI once wrote about how modern man does not accept death so much as he desires the simple cessation of life. We don’t want to embrace the cross that Jesus has        prepared for us, but rather simply want to opt out of suffering. I see the appeal, but it’s short sighted and misses out on so much of the transformation that God wants for us.
This November, make an effort to pray for those who have gone before us, and pray that the Lord will fill us with the peace that comes not from knowing that we will never suffer or die, but instead with the peace that comes with knowing that we are sharing in      suffering and death in the manner of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who has overcome sin and death and will someday call us to Himself.
Prayers always,
Fr. McC