One of our monks died this
morning, and his death put an end to his suffering. Old age was not kind to him
at all, and he suffered from a variety of ailments in addition to being legally
blind and seriously hard of hearing. I remember one day in particular when I
was standing by a staircase and I heard a frantic cry for help. I had to search
to find out where it was coming from because there were many echoes. I finally
found him down on a landing between floors. He was shaking like a leaf and it
was hard to get through his nervousness to calm him down so I could lead him
back upstairs. I have no idea how he had managed to get himself down there.
What a frightening thing he had to endure.
When I heard of his death, a
thought immediately came to mind: “Now he can see again!!!!!”
In the days to come we will be
offering the usual rounds of monastic prayers for him. I particularly like the “Office
of the Dead” which we will pray when his body is brought to the monastery. It’s
not a morbid thing at all. The emphasis is on passing through death to life,
and the psalms are filled with hints and images of resurrection: “I am sure I
shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.” Things like
that.
Some monks will get very nervous,
especially those who are responsible for preparing the liturgies and the
funeral. There are so many details to take care of, but I suspect you know
exactly what that’s like if you’ve suffered the death of a loved one.
This is also a time for greater
silence, and tremendous respect for one another. We never can know for sure how
each of us is processing our brother’s death, and so we tend to be particularly
careful of one another. It is possible that one or two of us will get very
angry, since that is a natural part of the grieving process, and we are
reminded by Saint Benedict that we should “try to be the first to show respect
to the other, supporting with the greatest patience one another’s weaknesses of
body or behavior . . . “ (Rule of Saint Benedict, chapter 72 verses 4-5.)
There’s one thing I already
noticed when we were praying noon prayer a little while ago. When we are
praying the office (morning and evening prayer, night prayer and noon prayer),
the words of the psalms tend to jump off the page and right into our hearts.
This becomes a special contemplative time.
Monastic funerals are beautiful
things, and whenever we go through one I can’t help reminding myself that one
day will be my turn, and my brothers will do the same wonderful things for me
that we are doing for our deceased confrère now.
Have I told you that I love my monastic
life?
God bless you, and may the souls
of the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen.
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