Modern people - living as far as possible from death - would think that St. Francis of Assisi, who called death "Sister Death" - was absolutely insane.
But Francis was deeply Sane. He lived as a beggar, out on the roads in snow, sun, and rain. He sang songs to God of gratitude for the world - all of it. He smelled flowers and manure. He touched new-born babies and dying lepers. He smiled at and talked to birds. He observed life and death all around him. He saw the Face of God in Nature. He observed his slowly weakening and decaying body and, in a great burst of hope and trust in God Who created Life and Death, accepted this new Sister who would bring him to see his God truly face to Face. Observing death in nature and in himself, he learned how to live gratefully: in love with God, in love with people, in love with God's gift of creation that surrounded him - including the reality he called "Sister Death."
Francis teaches us that it is by preparing most fully for death that we learn how to live most fully - for we discover what is essential for life: Gratitude. Trust. Peace. Love.
Ancient peoples had St. Francis' outlook. They lived in a deep, enduring gratitude-filled relationship with the physical world around them, which gave them a constant, enduring relationship with the God Who created it. Simply observing Nature taught them about the Great Cycles of the planet Earth: birth, death, rebirth. Today we know that they are also the same Great Cycles of the Universe: birth, death, rebirth. But today, too many of us live urban lives, far away from mountains, streams, the hum of cicadas, fields full of fresh, tangy wild strawberries, the varying cycles of agriculture, the births and deaths of farm animals, hawks diving at 120 miles an hour to catch a mole or squirrel in their sharp talons to devour, butterflies rising from caterpillars...
The entire universe, created by the energizing Spirit of God, lives the cycle of birth, life, death, re-birth. And - we human beings are an integral part of this universe in which birth, life, death, and re-birth is an ongoing reality. God invented death as well as life and made it an integral part of the evolutionary life of the universe. Diarmuid O'Murchu comments,
"Modern technology promises us a world where one day human aging will be arrested, disease and death will cease to exist, and the perfect machine will bring an end to human struggle and drudgery. It is a delusory myth that strongly appeals to scientific futurists of our time....It is never going to happen....
"Creation cannot survive, and less so thrive, without its dark side. There is a quality of destruction, decay, and death that is essential to creation's flourishing. Without this downside there can never be evolutionary breakthroughs....The great paradox of creation-cum-destruction...(is) otherwise named as the unfolding cycle of birth-death-rebirth. And it transpires all over creation, on the macro and micro scales alike.
"Is this how God created the world? It seems so." (in "Incarnation: A New Evolutionary Threshold.")
St. Paul said that sin brought death into the world. Paul did not mean physical death - physical death has been a God-given part of the universe since its beginning. What Paul meant was that sin brought spiritual death into the world. Spiritual death is a slow hardening of the heart, a selfishness, a life spent using others - including using and abusing Mother Earth who gives us physical life. Mortal sin cuts us off from our true selves, from Jesus the Vine, from other human beings, from our inter-relationship with this planet and the universe. Mortal sin propels us into the darkness of a self-imposed hell of ingratitude, hate, and false superiority.
Our ancestors understood this Great Cycle of birth - death - rebirth, accepted it, befriended its unfolding process, even trusted it. They realized that they were interdependent with every life form on earth, - which, if we just thought about it, we would realize even more deeply today. American theologian Mark Wallace spoke in 2005 of why we owe loving gratitude to earth:
"The Spirit ensouls the earth as its life-giving breath, and the earth embodies the Spirit's mysterious inter animation of the whole creation....The world's forests are the lungs we breathe with, the ozone layer is the skin that protects; and the earth's lakes and rivers are the veins and arteries that supply us with vital fluids."
O'Murchu adds, "the entire universe is God's primary revelation to us, where the energizing Spirit has been at work for time immemorial."
This soul-deep understanding and acceptance of the Spirit-inspired working of the Universe can give us great hope and great peace! Rather than dominate the world, we can live in relationship with the world around us, and in loving cooperation with and acceptance of its Great Cycle. As that great Nature-Lover St. Francis said, we can even say "Sister Death."
"Saint Francis of Assisi died on October 3, 1226. Death was not something that simply “happened” to Francis, but a human reality that the saint of Assisi embraced as his sister. In the song which he wrote praising God for creation, Francis added the line: 'All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Death, From whose embrace no mortal can escape. Woe to those who die in mortal sin! Happy those she finds doing your will! The second death can do them no harm. Praise and bless my Lord, and give him thanks. And serve him with great humility.'
"Saint Francis saw Sister Death as a natural part of life through which we transition to continue our life with God. It was sad for him to say goodbye but he was ready. He even had one of his closest friends, Lady Jacoba, come from Rome and bring him some grey material for a habit in which to be buried, candles for his funeral…. and, umm, some of those really good almond cookies that he liked so much!" (FrancisCorps Website)
What did St. Francis see in the world that helped prepare him for death? Probably he looked at caterpillars evolving into butterflies. Sr. Elizabeth Johnson talks about the wonder of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly:
"The little furry, crawling creature spins a chrysalis about itself, the equivalent of a tomb. Its caterpillar organs and tissues break down. If we were to open a chrysalis at this stage, we would observe total disintegration. But already the creature's genes have triggered adult structures, so that its dying caterpillar cells are refashioned into new organs. What emerges is a beautiful, colorful creature who can fly. What continuity, what discontinuity, what transformation!" (from "Abounding in Kindness.")
But Francis' meditation on the new butterfly - symbol of new life - would lead him far beyond the natural world, to the resurrection of Jesus, source of all Christian hope for new and eternal life. Johnson continues,
"Still, the resurrection of Jesus is more unlike than like this or any other organic example from the natural world. For it is not by any inbuilt mechanism of human nature that a deceased person lives again, but only by the gracious power of God. The resurrection starts on earth with Jesus dead and buried and ends up in God, with Jesus the Living One, transformed by the power of the Spirit. Alive in God, his presence is no longer bound by earth's usual limits but partakes of the omnipresence of God's own love."
Johnson continues with snapshots of how Jesus' disciples recognized him from then on in revelatory religious experiences, for they knew his presence with the eyes of faith.... "in the approach of a wise stranger and the breaking of the bread (Emmaus); in the peace of forgiveness (the upper room); in her name uttered to a weeping woman (Mary Magdalene); in a catch of fish and someone cooking breakfast on the shore (John's lovely scene). Christ can also be recognized whenever two or three gather in his name, and in the boldness of speech that accompanies the community in mission. True to the pattern of his ministry, he also approaches, mysteriously revealed and concealed, in the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, the homeless, those in prison, the very least of those in need. Ultimately, through the power of the Spirit, Jesus is with the whole community of disciples through every hour, until the end of time."
The Holy Spirit releases Jesus' presence throughout the world. If, when we die, we are united with the cosmic Christ and with his whole Body - which includes the whole of renewed creation - we will also be wherever he is! Everywhere! With everyone! With creation! No wonder our friends tell us that a particular bird or butterfly is a gift from a deceased loved one, or brings them his/her spirit. No wonder a prophetic Bishop Oscar Romero, knowing that he would soon be murdered, could say these mysterious words just a few days before his assassination, words that show his deep love and eternal commitment to his people of El Salvador:
"My life has been threatened many times. I have to confess that as a Christian, I don't believe in death without resurrection. IF THEY KILL ME, I WILL RISE AGAIN IN THE SALVADORAN PEOPLE."
As Christians, we believe that, when we die, we do not leave those we love "behind" - we are closer to them and united to them more perfectly than ever!
St. Therese of Lisieux speaks about life after death in these loving words:
"When I die, I will send down a shower of roses from the heavens, I will spend my heaven by doing good on earth.”
When Archbishop Bernardin found out from his medical staff that he was dying, he immediately began making plans and preparations regarding who would do what in the Diocese as he grew sicker. But God sent him someone he really needed to help him prepare for death. In "The Gift of Peace," he tells us,
"A very significant thing happened during the month of July last year. Father Henri Nouwen, a friend of mine for more than twenty-five years, paid me a visit. He had come to a conference in the metropolitan area and asked if he could come to see me. I said, 'By all means.' We spent over an hour together, and he brought me one of his latest books, 'Our greatest Gift: A Reflection on Dying and Caring.' We talked about the book, and the main thing I remember is that he talked about the importance of looking on death as a friend rather than an enemy. While I had always taken such a view in terms of my faith, I needed to be reminded at that moment because I was rather exhausted....
"'It's very simple,' he said. 'If you have fear and anxiety and you talk to a friend, then those fears and anxieties are minimized and could even disappear. If you see them as an enemy, then you go into a state of denial and try to get as far away as possible from them.' He said, 'People of faith, who believe that death is the transition from this life to life eternal, should see it as a friend.'
"This conversation was a great help to me. It removed some of my anxiety or fear about death for myself. When Fr. Nouwen died suddenly of a heart attack on September 21 of this year, at the age of 59, everyone was shocked. Yet, there is no doubt that he was prepared. He spent a lifetime teaching others how to live, and how to die."
Archbishop Bernardin completed his book, "The Gift of Peace," just thirteen days before he died. During the months he was dying, he worked, celebrated Mass, and visited others as long as he could. He realized that, by allowing himself to enter more fully into an emotional, mental, and spiritual preparation for death, he discovered how to live most fully: to focus on what was most essential, most loving, for him to do day by day, hour by hour. He wrote his last words feeling connected to God's gift of Nature and her Cycles of birth-death-rebirth in the deepest way:
"It is the first day of November, and fall is giving way to winter. Soon the trees will lose the vibrant colors of their leaves and snow will cover the ground. The earth will shut down, and people will race to and from their destinations bundled up for warmth. Chicago winters are harsh. it is a time of dying.
"But we know that spring will soon come with all its new life and wonder.
"It is quite clear that I will not be alive in the Spring. But I will soon experience new life in a different way. Although I do not know what to expect in the afterlife, I do know that just as God has called me to serve him to the best of my ability throughout my life on earth, he is now calling me home....
"What I would like to leave behind is a simple prayer that each of you may find what I have found - God's special gift to us all: the gift of peace. When we are at peace, we find the freedom to be most fully who we are, even in the worst of times. We let go of what is nonessential and embrace what is essential. We empty ourselves so that God may more fully work within us. And we become instruments in the hands of the Lord."
We are all part of a universe created by God to evolve through a great Cycle of birth - life - death - rebirth. May we, like Archbishop Bernardin, each find the inner strength and peace to let go of what is nonessential and embrace what is essential in our lives, including preparation for our death. May we, like St. Francis, be grateful for the gift of life and even grateful for the gift of death, Sister Death, who ushers us through the door to seeing our beloved Lord face to face. May we, like Bishop Romero, realize that our new resurrected life will unite us more perfectly to the Body of Christ - all peoples, all creation, whom we passionately love. And may we pray that, like St. Therese, we may spend our heaven doing good on earth.