Age and cultures define death differently. The French writer Simone de Beauvoir called death “an unjustifiable violation.” Her contemporary, Jean-Paul Sartre, however, was tranquil when thinking about the end of life. I’m in the middle of those two minds. Being so rooted in middle age has forced me to consider the end of my earthly journey, but (God willing) I have “miles to go before I sleep.” The sweet hereafter, I hope, is the respite I have earned. It isn’t punishment at the end of a long race; it’s the medal for a race run well.
St. Francis, in his “Canticle of the Creatures,” wrote, “All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Death, from whose embrace no mortal can escape.” When it is my turn, I hope to embrace her in kind and walk the path cleared by those who came before me—a tireless spirit moving in concert with the Almighty.
—from St. Anthony Messenger‘s “Faith and Family: Beginnings and Endings“
by Christopher Heffron
