Interfaith Journeys
  • Home
  • Interfaith Journeys
  • Stella Reekie

Go Gently into the Night

14/10/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Two of my community died this week - one of them very unexpectedly and suddenly, the other not so sudden. She went gently into the night after many years of suffering and disability.  It's brought us all up short as once again we've been faced with the reality that in the last analysis we cannot control life or death and that it can happen to any one of us anytime, anywhere. Life is fragile and it's this fragility that makes it precious and wonderful.

One of my lasting memories is of an interview  Melvyn Bragg conducted with Denis Potter in his last days.  His talk was of his impending death but also of how he was seeing  life through new eyes and appreciating so much. He talked of the blossom on the tree outside his window as he strove to complete his final play. This wordsmith couldn't find the words to describe its beauty. I remember him saying, while rubbing his fingers, it was the blossomiest, blossomiest blossom and though this might seem nonsense it certainly conveys the beauty of the tree and the magnificence of its blossom as well as an appreciation of its grandeur. Facing death, Dennis Potter really appreciated life and its giftedness. In some way we are all facing death. It can come like a thief in the night and be taken from us at any moment.  For some people this is a scary thought and they would do anything to distract themselves from it. The Japanese say that we are only able to live when we have faced death.  I presume this is because facing death takes away our fear of it, stops us being self-defensive and enables us to live and enjoy life as fully as we can.  It helps us realise the giftedness and sacredness of life and the world in which we live - hopefully helping us treat it with reverence and respect. Seize the day, as the saying goes, because it will never come again. We only have the present.  Today's fashion in  mindfulness teaches the same thing.

Death also brings us face to face with the sacredness and mystery of human beings. As the word of the death of our two sisters spread across the community we shared memories and reminiscences of their lives, we reflected on who they were and what they meant to us. But it also made me  realise that there was much we didn't know about them. So much of our knowledge of one another is surface knowledge.  Thomas Merton has said: 

​       ‘A person is a person in so far as each has a secret
        and is a solitude of their own
        that cannot be communicated to anyone else’. 

Each of these two sisters  had their  own inner struggles and challenges, joys and sorrows known only to themselves and to God. But their story was and is part of a story much greater than their individual lives, greater than their work or achievements.  Their life story includes the effect and influence they had on each of us and the many people who came into contact with them. It includes the good that still lives on in the world because of their presence in it. And in this sense they continue to live on in us and those they influenced and where they are we are too for the unity we share surely cannot end with death. It 's too great a reality for that.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    I am  a Catholic nun, involved in interfaith relations for many decades.  For me this has been an exciting and sacred journey which I would like to share with others.

    Picture

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013

    RSS Feed

    Categories
    Religious Performances
    ​​

    All

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.