One last post on "dying well"...

Alright, I know!  I said we were done looking at the issue of dying well, BUT...  This reading from St. Cyprian came up in the Office of Readings this past Friday and it really hit home.  Read on, and contemplate Wisdom!

"Our obligation is to do God's will, and not our own.  We must remember this if the prayer that our Lord commanded us to say daily is to have any meaning on our lips.  How unreasonable it is to pray that God's will be done, and then not promptly obey it when he calls us from this world!  Instead we struggle and resist like self-willed slaves and are brought into the Lord's presence with sorrow and lamentation, not freely consenting to our departure, but constrained by necessity.  And yet we expect to be rewarded with heavenly honors by Him to whom we come against our will!  Why then do we pray for the kingdom of heaven to come if this earthly bondage pleases us?  What is the point of praying so often for its early arrival if we would rather serve the devil here than reign with Christ.

The world hates Christians, so why give your love to it instead of following Christ, who loves you and has redeemed you?  John is most urgent in his epistle when he tells us not to love the world by yielding to sensual desires.  Never give your love to the world, he warns, or to anything in it.  A man cannot love the Father and love the world at the same time.  All that the world offers is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and earthly ambition.  The world and its allurements will pass away, but the man who has done the will of God shall live for ever.  Our part, my dear brothers, is to be single-minded, firm in faith, and steadfast in courage, ready for God's will, whatever it may be.  Banish the fear of death and think of the eternal life that follows it.  That will show people that we really live our faith.

We ought never to forget, beloved, that we have renounced the world.  We are living here now as aliens and only for a time.  When the day of our homecoming puts an end to our exile, frees us from the bonds of the world, and restores us to paradise and to a kingdom, we should welcome it.  What man, stationed in a foreign land, would not want to return to his own country as soon as possible?  Well, we look upon paradise as our country, and a great crowd of our loved ones awaits us there, a countless throng of parents, brothers and children longs for us to join them.  Assured though they are of their own salvation, they are still concerned about ours.  What joy both for them and for us to see one another and embrace!  O the delight of that heavenly kingdom where there is no fear of death!  O the supreme and endless bliss of everlasting life!

There, is the glorious band of apostles, there, the exultant assembly of prophets, there, the innumerable host of martyrs, crowned for their glorious victory in combat and in death.  There, in triumph, are the virgins who sudued their passions by the strength of continence.  There, the merciful are rewarded, those who fulfilled the demands of justice by providing for the poor.  In obedience to the Lord's command, they turned their earthly patrimony into heavenly treasure.

My dear brothers, let all our longing be to join them as soon as we may.  May God see our desire, may Christ see this resolve that springs from faith, for he will give the rewards of his love more abundantly to those who have longed for Him more fervently."

As I was doing some clearing of my desk this past week I came across another prayer "For a Happy Death", this one seeking the intercession of St. Benedict.  Since many, now a days, have St. Benedict medals attached to their rosary or scapular (or both) I thought I'd share it with you.

 Use this prayer in good spiritual health.  Don’t forget to take advantage of the sacraments, sacramentals, and the many prayers and other rites of the Church, all aimed at helping us to safely complete the pilgrimage of faith for which we were created.  Memento Mori!

Prayer to St. Benedict for a Happy Death

V. Pray for us, O Holy Father, St. Benedict.

R. And obtain for us the grace of a happy death.

Let us pray: O holy Father, Benedict, whose very name signifies your blessedness; you most joyfully offered your angelic soul to God while you stood in prayer with your arms raised to heaven.  You have promised to defend us from the devil’s attacks at the hour of death if we daily recall to you your own glorious death and heavenly joys.  Protect me, therefore, O glorious Father, today and every day by your holy blessings; so that I may never be separated from our blessed Jesus, nor from the company of you and all the saints.  Amen.

Let us pray: O God, Who adorned the precious death of our most holy Father, St. Benedict, with so many and so great privileges, grant, we beseech You, that our departure hence, we may be defended from the snares of the enemy by the blessed presence of him whose memory we celebrate.  Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

 

St. Martin of Tours and "Dying Well"

Memento Mori! (Remember Death) is the reminder to all Christians that we will all die.  The question becomes, will we be ready?  Most don’t even want to think about this until it is too late.  Why do I say this?  Because preparing for death is a lifetime pursuit.  Morbid? Only to those who are already lost.  Happily, if you are still alive, it isn’t too late to get busy and make up for lost time!

I was intending to discuss St. Robert Bellarmine’s publication on “The Art of Dying Well”.  Unfortunately, as I dug into this book, I soon came to realize it was bigger than the papal exhortation we just spent the last year studying.  So, I will discuss instead the death of St. Martin of Tours, whose feast we celebrated this past Wednesday.  I still highly recommend a reading of St. Robert’s tome.  There's good stuff there!  That may be why he is one of the "Doctors of the Church", No?

St. Martin of Tours (316-397AD) was a Roman soldier (so a most fitting saint to be celebrated on “Veteran’s Day”).  He is most famous for the episode recorded by the historian Sulpicius, while still in military service, whereby he came across a poor man shivering in the cold, and so he cut his military cloak in half and gave it to the man so that he might be warmed.  That night, Martin dreamed of Jesus wearing the half-cloak he had given away. He heard Jesus say to the angels: "Martin, who is still but a catechumen, clothed me with this robe."

On coming to the faith, and in response to the ascension of Julian the Apostate to the imperial throne, Martin abandoned the life of soldiering for service to the "True King" and the pursuit of eternal life.  After Baptism he became a disciple of St. Hilary of Poitier and retreating to the solitude of the hermitage, St. Martin found the intimacy with God he desired.  This intimacy, however, was a beacon to all around and soon he was prevailed upon to become the bishop of Tours (France).  He served faithfully to a very old age.

As he became aware that his life was coming to an end a report came that the clergy of a parish were quarreling.  Off he went to reconcile them, thinking of his clergy and people before

his own needs and desire.  St. Martin arrived, staying in the parish church night and day in the presence of our Eucharistic Lord.  Having reconciled the clergy and ready to head home his strength drained away and he announced he was dying.  The clergy and people begged him not to leave them to the wolves of this world; so he called out to God saying: “Lord, if your people still need me, I am ready for the task; your will be done.”  But God’s will was that he should come home without further delay.  Indeed, he refused to be turned in his bed because he wanted to be able to face his destination – so, up he went. 

We see by the life of St. Martin that a good and holy death was prepared for by a good and holy life.  His pursuit of intimacy with God led to a call to an active, apostolic life, but the foundation had been laid, and he was able to undertake the office of bishop without losing that intimacy.  Thus, in 397 AD, at the end of a long life (he was reputed to be 80-81 years old), he was ready for eternal communion with God, Who was quite ready for him as we see in the account of his death.May we be so ready for such a death, or rather, such a passover into eternal life.  The crypt shown at the beginning of this posting is that of St. Martin.  St. Martin of Tours – Pray for us!

Preparation for "Dying Well" (cont'd)

Two of the greatest disappointments in the ministry of a priest come in the later years of a parishioner’s life:  The first is when those who are confined to their homes don’t feel a need for either our Lord’s presence in the Most Holy Eucharist, nor for the refreshing cleansing of the Sacrament of Reconciliation / Confession.  There are many folks who would like a visit from the pastor, but so few whose real desire and focus is the Eucharist the pastor brings with him; The second is when a parishioner dies without the Sacraments of Viaticum or Anointing of the Sick and the Apostolic Pardon which accompanies these at the end of life.  This might seem a bit macabre to some, but if one’s goal is leading souls to eternal, intimate communion with God, the greatest tragedy is the loss of souls, or even the delay of a soul entering into that communion.

Because the Eucharist is the Body & Blood, Soul & Divinity of Christ, it is the very center of our life on earth.  It is particularly critical that our deep and passionate love for the Eucharist be cultivated early in life.  Too often we push off the cultivation of this love in favor of the joys of the created world.  When our older years come along, we spend our time reliving the past or mourning our lost youth instead of yearning for communion with God.

When this desire, this passionate love for God, present to us in His Son through the Most Holy Eucharist is left uncultivated, so is our awareness of those things which have separated us from the fulness of communion with God and then our desire to be reconciled with God.  This leaves us dead inside.  Unfortunately, in this life of constant noise and distraction we don’t notice it so much in our youth or miss it in our maturity – and yet there is a hole and yearning we can’t explain.

When we have cultivated this love for God, present to us in His Son through the Most Holy Eucharist, yearn for presence of the Eucharist – having Father visit is nice, but it’s Who he has brought with him that we really desire!  And when this desire for His presence has been well cultivated, one especially desires this presence at the end of life – not when one is already comatose, but when one can still recognize His presence and receive Him as Food for the Journey (Viaticum).

So, PLEASE, cultivate this desire in your youth, and then call Father when you are no longer able to come to church and ask for the Most Holy Eucharist; that sacrament which opens us more fully to His presence – Confession; and, finally, makes us desire the comforting reassurance of the Apostolic Pardon when death is near.

“May Christ our Lord help us all with His bountiful grace, so that we may know His holy will and perfectly fulfill it.” (St. Ignatius of Loyola)

The Year of St. Joseph and "A Good Death"

In this Year of St. Joseph being celebrated in the Diocese of La Crosse we are reminded, in this month of All Souls, of the special part St. Joseph plays in the lives of those who are dying.  Because of the special grace he received dying in the arms of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and in the presence of His Blessed Mother, St. Joseph is the model for all the dying and the patron saint of the same.

As we pray this month especially for the poor souls in purgatory, we are reminded of the necessity for preparing ourselves for death, which is the doorway into eternal life.  Death can come upon us as a “thief in the night” or as He really is: our Savior, and our Friend – Jesus Christ (cf. Luke 12:35-40); but, in any case, He does and will come: will we be prepared to meet and welcome Him?

One of the prayers offered on First Wednesday, in the novena to St. Joseph, is a “prayer for a good death”.

O holy St. Joseph, who died in the arms of the Son of God and in the presence of his holy Mother, / I beseech you at my last hour to stand by me, with your immaculate Spouse, / that assisted by both your prayers, I may repent of my sins, / and breathe my last breath in an act of perfect love and confidence in my Savior, / repeating His blessed Name, exalted above every name, / and proclaiming joyfully “Lord, into your hands, I commend my spirit.”

Use this prayer as you undertake, even now, that necessary preparation for eternal life.  As we continue this month in our prayers for the poor souls, let us do that which is necessary to prepare our own souls for a quick and painless entry into the eternal joy promised for those who are sons and daughters of the Most High.

Scripturae Sacrae Affectus (III)

 This week we come to our last installment on Pope Francis’ apostolic letter on St. Jerome and Holy Scripture.  The Holy Father speaks about the issue of inculturation with regards to the translation and interpretation of Holy Scripture.  He gives us a very thoughtful and beautiful reflection on how the work of translating begins with the work of encounter, first between the culture of the times from which Sacred Scripture comes and the translator, and then the encounter between the translator and the culture into which the Sacred Scriptures are being translated.

In speaking of St. Jerome’s work, Pope Francis also calls to mind those missionaries, who, over the ages have undertaken the invaluable work of preparing “grammars” and dictionaries which have paved the way for encounter between our Christian faith and the culture into which we have come anew.  I think in a particular way of St. John de Brebeuf, and Venerable Bishop Baraga, whose work was so significant in bringing about that encounter and subsequent conversion of so many native Americans.

This issue of enrichment and encounter is something I always try to instill in my Spanish students.  Even when we are the one’s bringing the Gospel to a culture, we find ourselves enriched by the encounter because language carries with it a different perspective, a different way of looking at things.  Pope Francis points out how this reveals the truth of Sacred Scripture, not as a dead letter which can become a source of cultural imperialism, but is the living Word which transforms people and cultures both in the receiving and in the giving.

Some people (especially my mother!) have asked why I “need” so many Bibles.  At this point I have seven different translations in three languages.  I also have a number of commentaries.  These help with the one side of the equation – from Hebrew and Greek to Latin, and to English and other modern languages.  We also need to understand that language continually grows, even changes.  Thus, one way of communicating an idea may no long communicate the Truth intended with the passing of years.  Also, our understanding of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin language and culture continues to grow with continuing research.  And finally, the presuppositions of translators does affect the resulting translation.

Knowing their aims, and bias, helps in both choosing, and judging the appropriateness of a particular translation.The job that remains, OUR job, is to take these resources, by which we have encountered the living Word, and bringing them to the contemporary culture.  Let get to work, the work of encounter which saves and enriches souls, including our own.