Ash Wednesday is early this year
(the Coronavirus)
On Tuesday evening, the abbot asked a couple of members in the community to set with Br. Alan. He is our oldest member of the community, 99 years old. He has aged well and has only started weakening when he was around 96. Till then he got around well, attended Mass, and while in the infirmary, did not need a whole lot of care in the beginning. Yet, time moves on, and now he needs full-time care, and there are come cognitive issues, but not too serious.
I sat with him for a few hours early on Wednesday. He was peaceful, but for the most part unresponsive. I have set with many of the monks as they neared death, as have most members of any monastic community. It is our custom to be with a monk during their last hours, praying with them, as well as for them.
As I was sitting with Br. Alan, I found myself reliving many other monks that I have had the privilege of being within their last hours. It all seems like one event, since those dying, at least those who are old, seem to all be alike, at least from the outside. Now that I am fast becoming elderly (well already there), it makes me aware that sooner than I probably believe, I too will be the one that others are sitting with, praying with and for me. For me, it brings out a certain dreamlike quality about our lives. The last 71 years seem like a weekend. So the next 15 or 20 years (or less, much less) that I have left, well, I can only imagine that in a blink of the eye, it will be my turn.
My brother Robert just lost a very good friend to cancer. I visited Janet yesterday, a woman that we have helped over the years, and who I have interacted with for around 30 years. Now she is in a nursing home, and it seems that soon she too will be going into the great mystery that we call death.
Yesterday I spent some time looking into the Coronavirus, and from what I read we could be in for a rough ride. How rough, is to be determined? Hopefully, there will be a way to deal with it that will keep the number infected, and the death toll down.
Worse case, many will die, perhaps the majority being from the elderly population, and from the very young. It is the very young that I worry about.
Even if this can be dealt with in a manner that will make the outcome better than many believe at this point, it is still a time to take stock of one’s life.
To actually think about the worst-case scenario, could mean than many of us will lose loved ones. Or it could also mean that in a short time, that some of you reading this article, will become a statistic to this disease. Yes, not much fun to think about, but it could help in structuring our lives towards what is most important.
The Lord has put into my heart an understanding that in prayer, in being with the infinite revealed as Infinite Love, is to be with all of my brothers and sister, and when I pray or suffer, it is for them, and with them. For as St. Paul says, in some way, our sufferings make up for what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ Jesus. I take that to mean, that it is not I, but Christ who lives in me, again as St. Paul said. I do believe that Christians, all Christians are called to lift up all of humanity, with no regard to what others believe, into the very heart of the Father. I have no need, nor the desire, to judge anyone on that level, but to seek to love and be united to all. When that is forgotten, it is then that we become obstacles to God’s grace by our often angry judgments on others who sin in ways that we do not.
The Lord has put into my heart an understanding that in prayer, in being with the infinite revealed as Infinite Love, is to be with all of my brothers and sister, and when I pray or suffer, it is for them, and with them. For as St. Paul says, in some way, our sufferings make up for what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ Jesus. I take that to mean, that it is not I, but Christ who lives in me, again as St. Paul said. I do believe that Christians, all Christians are called to lift up all of humanity, with no regard to what others believe, into the very heart of the Father. I have no need, nor the desire, to judge anyone on that level, but to seek to love and be united to all. When that is forgotten, it is then that we become obstacles to God’s grace by our often angry judgments on others who sin in ways that we do not.-Br.MD
So to think on the adage “Man, thou art dust, and to dust thou will return”, could be considered a wakeup call and to seek to live on a deeper level. So let us not be afraid to think of “The last things”, but seek a deeper understanding of our role in this great mystery we call our lives.—Br.MD
