HOW TO MAKE A GOOD DEATH

PRAYER MOMENT

Tuesday 17 November 2015

HOW TO MAKE A GOOD DEATH

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Therefore if I am man enough to quit this life here and now I shall prove myself worthy of my old age, and I shall have left the young a noble example of how to make a good death, eagerly and generously, for the venerable and holy laws.” (2 Macc 6:18-31)

Reflection. In November we remember those who have died, known and unknown to us. We have just had one of our old brother priests, here in Zambia, Anthony Geoghegan, die and he will be buried today. There is a lot of death in the Maccabees and this old man, Eleazar, dies as a martyr “for the venerable and holy laws”, an unusual hint in the Old Testament to death being simply a bridge we cross into the fullness of life with God. The whole mention of death, even for longstanding Christians, can be charged with unspecified anxieties. It should not be. Though it is a sorrowful time it is our joyful coming to God.

Prayer. Lord, help us not to fear death but to grow in peaceful expectation of our joyful meeting with you. Amen.