Death and Dying

Seems morbid to be thinking about that, right?  I think it's a very Catholic thing to think about--it's right and good to think about Last Things.

It's on my mind because my grandmother may have a return of lymphoma, and I know she's tired.  She's lived a long life, and the love of her life has been gone now for about 15 years.  She's put in a lot of work, and I know what I would be thinking if I had a questionable spot on my CT scan.

It feels weird to have made peace with death, but I certainly have, and I don't want let go of that peace.  It came straight from heaven--a gift from God that I received just before the heart surgery.  All I felt was sheer terror that Holy Saturday at the Easter Vigil, and as I paced in the back of the church with a sleepy baby Beatle (who was not yet a year old), I felt a warmth come over me.  I looked at the Tabernacle, and I felt him speaking to me in my soul.  I'll never forget it.  "You always have a home here."  There's a home--a wonderful rest from all of this.

Every time someone dies, I feel deep sadness for those who lose them.  At the same time, I have hope that the soul that has passed on is at rest and is content, no matter how painful, violent or sudden their death was.  St. Paul calls death a "falling asleep," which sounds so wonderful.  I love going to sleep--letting all of the day's work and frustrations melt away into peaceful rest.

May God bless us and keep us close until we come home to him!