Friday of Week 19 in Ordinary TIme
St. Maximilian Kolbe, Priest, Martyr
I’ve had death on my mind lately. It is a consistent part of my hospital
ministry; yesterday I attended a conference on aging; and then this morning,
another Martyr, Maximilian Kolbe.
In imitation of Christ, my death has the
potential to be fraught with meaning. This doesn’t mean martyrdom…few are called in
that direction, but it does mean that my ending deserves prayer and attention.
In The Rule, St. Benedict urges the
monks to “Keep death, daily, before one’s
eyes.” This isn’t in order to live
morbidly but to live…period. It is a
reminder to actually live until death.
Atul Gawande, (surgeon, author, public health
researcher) in his book Being Mortal:
Medicine and What Matters in the End*, see’s life as a story and “in
stories, endings matter.”
So with The Rule and Gawande I not only ponder
the end but I live into it. An ending
implies a story. May my story be one to
tell!
May I pray and attend to my life and my death!
St. Maximillian Kolbe, Pray for me.
…and what a story!
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