The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death. I am old and move slowly, and the slower runner has overtaken me.
Socrates, in Plato’s Apology
Yesterday I was walking back to the house alone after feeding the pigs. Stars coming out, it was a glorious and brisk Shenandoah evening. On my mind and heart was a loved one who is nearing the end of life. I was deeply struck: how bracing it must be to face death as imminent. How seldom I myself really reckon with the possibility, nay the coming reality of my own death.
I suppose this is just one of those things in human life. Life is so full, so demanding; only with real effort can I get myself to reckon with its simply screeching to a halt. Death is very difficult to imagine.
I really, really love being alive. It is with gratitude and a recognition that it could have been otherwise that I say this. There is so much I still want to do, and so many ways I need to grow. And especially, there is so much I still want to do and to be for my family, my friends, and others! It can make me short of breath.
Some would suggest that we not think about death. Just keep pushing ahead. This is tempting, simply to put it out of my mind. Why dwell on death?
But given that any number of things could instantly render my body lifeless—this body I love, I must somehow integrate this truth into how I live. Every day.
It sounds trite. But I am moved anew to live each day as a gift. There are a million things that could have prevented me from being conceived. But here I am! Everything I have done might not have been. And, Oh Lord!, every person I know and love, and even those I struggle to love… it is all pure gift. Every moment with them. Every single moment.
If a new day is but another gift, how can I respond? I must learn to live in gratitude. And this means to learn to live well, in righteousness. To become the man, husband, father, friend, teacher, student, citizen, that I am called to be: this is the great challenge!
I will do what I reasonably can to stay healthy and safe in body. I will focus more on responding to the call to righteousness implicit in the gift of life.
Socrates saw with clarity that the great evil is unrighteousness, failing to become who I am called to be. Death itself cannot undermine or even lessen the transcendent good of a life well lived. As Socrates boldly proclaims: “Wherefore, O judges, be of good cheer about death, and know this as truth – that no evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death.”
He had this confidence from his life experience. I too take this confidence thence; and even more, because the Lord of life and death has said so.
So be of good cheer my heart, and quail not as you go your way today. And to my dear loved one who is, perhaps, more proximate to death: be of very good cheer! The slower runner may soon overtake you. But the faster runner is far, far from your door.
Related reading:
- Thinking About Death – for the Sake of Life
- Remembering Death
- Touching Death – Mourning Physically Through Burial
- The Heart, In Suffering
- Remembering Our Dead Daily
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Thank you very much for this reflection, Dr. Cuddeback. The “ode to life” in the third paragraph you wrote struck me, as the kind of relish you describe seems all too rare among people these days. How would you advise someone looking to rekindle their zeal for life and for living well?
I’m also reminded of Chesterton’s line from Orthodoxy: “Courage… means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die.”
Paul, First of all, I love the Chesterton quotation. Thanks for your great question. How to rekindle zeal for life? Here I’m going to go to a old sawhorse of mine: rediscovering the ordinary things of life. Bodily presence, good work, the beauty of nature, fireside times, great stories…–all as ways of being together with those we love. These can speak to us deep in our hearts. I would then add: prayer. Praying to the Lord of life to help us and others rediscover His great offer of love to us, that is behind and within everything. We can forget to pray for the these simple, profound graces.
Thank you for this writing…very moving and well written
You are welcome!
This folds in so well with the other reflection in Life-Craft about Tolkien, the elves & Christmas; how the elves prepared for tomorrow but then relished the moments of today without obsessing about what would come. On a personal note; my older brother/only sibling passed away unexpectedly in November leaving me as the lone survivor in my nuclear family. A somewhat rattling experience that left me forgetting the elven wisdom. However, Advent prayer and these reflections helped to rebalance me and provide a renewed appreciation for each moment.
Bob, Please be assured of our prayers for you and your brother. I can imagine that the death of your only other immediate family member does indeed cause a special void. We pray that this void will be an opening to further insight and experience of the astounding plan God has for you, always a plan for Life to the fullest. We send our sincere best wishes.
Being aware of life in this world and being aware of not living in this world implies the possibility of everlasting life. Indeed would you even want it if it can not be Good.
Amen.
Thank you so much for the meditation on the end of life. It is so fitting at this time as we also consider the Four Last Things. This past Lenten season as well as this current Advent season, I am using the daily companion from Memento Mori. There is always something new to contemplate. I have nothing profound to say; just to thank you for your thoughts during this first week of Advent.
You are welcome Donna. May God bless your Advent reflections!
I just attended a burial today of the husband of a dear friend of mine. He left behind two small children similar in age to my own. They were married 9 years-we have been married 7. I have had much time these past few days to ponder death as well… Love what you have said here. I, likewise, want to appreciate the husband I still have with me, our children who still have a father, a life full of things to look forward to. My friend’s life has all of a sudden taken such a different turn in only a couple short weeks. Everything is different for her now… But tomorrow or the next day could be our turn. Suffering is a part of life and it is her turn now but we all will partake in what suffering God has in store for us. Praying for the grace to endure, bear it, embrace it as well as my friend has/is. Thank you
Marie, My prayers are with you. This is indeed a unique time: for your friend and her children; for you; and for your friendship. I pray that it will be a time of blessings in and through the suffering. Right now only God knows how this will be a gift for you all. One day we all will know.
Such an important reflection. I teach at a Catholic grade school, and every week I have some tidbit for them centering on ‘memento mori’. Though, too, your post reminds me of a time when it simply occurred to me: “I woke up this morning! Why, that means that God must still have a purpose for me today!” And what a joy it is to see that purpose unfold, and to (hopefully) look back in satisfaction on a life lived for His Kingdom.
Beautiful. God bless your work with the children, Natalie!
I will in a very short time turn 70 years old, and I think about my own death a lot nowadays. It’s probably quite natural to not spend a lot of time thinking about death when one is younger. Even one year in the future seems an eternity when you’re 20, 30, or even 40 years old, and when you casually assume that, barring accidents, you have decades ahead of you… well, death seems just too distant to worry about.
But at 70 (or close to it), those decades just aren’t there any more. And there’s also the reality that if you do live for 20 more years, you’ll be more than likely mobility impaired, and dependent on others for just about everything.
But am I depressed about my approaching inevitable demise? Truthfully, I am not. I am more worried about living too long. Short of Eternal Life, I simply do not wish to carry on in this world longer than I have to. I believe that when death finally arrives, I will be welcoming it, knowing it is nothing more than a doorway to the Real World to come.
I’m most of the way there already. I no longer worried about “accomplishing” things. I just do what comes each day, and that’s enough. I can’t recall where I heard or read this, but I love the thought: “We all die in Act 3 of a 5 act play.” Those words are a great comfort to me, and ought to be for everyone.
Bob, Thank you for sharing this. It is indeed great to think about Acts 4 and 5…
Sister Death, who plays her part
In how we get to heaven,
Might you recover from the start
The holiness of Adam?