Before All Souls Day recedes too far, read this powerful piece by Michelle Francl-Donnay about facing the reality of one’s death. She refers to the last days of the Jesuit Alfred Delp, killed by the Nazis:
Delp’s final writings, smuggled out of prison on bits of torn newspaper, speak poignantly of how difficult he found living in this liminal time, literally on the threshold between life and death. I’m coming to realize that this is where we all live, though it may be a reality I readily choose to ignore. Recognizing that I stand in this doorway is a powerful confession of hope.
I meditate on my own end, learning how to fall so that I might choose to stand. Realizing ever more deeply that at this very moment I am no less in God’s hands than I will be at the hour of my death. This is not madness, or conceit, or cowardice, but utter grace.
