Denver Catholic

23 DENVER CATHOLIC | NOVEMBER 9-22, 2019 N ovember is a month when the Church asks us to pray for the dead. After celebrating those in heaven on Nov. 1, we pray for all the faithful departed who await heaven while undergoing purgation on Nov. 2, All Souls Day. The Church encourages us to pray for the dead by grant- ing special indulgences in November to assist the souls in purgatory. A plenary (or full) indulgence can be received November 1-8 and then a partial indulgence the rest of the month when we "devoutly visit a cemetery and at least mentally pray for the dead" or "devoutly recite lauds or vespers from the O¤ ce of the Dead or the prayer¬Requiem aeter- nam": "Eternal¬rest grant unto him/ her (them), O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him/her/them. May he/she/they rest in peace. Amen." November, therefore, provides an opportunity to refl ect upon death. Even the readings at the end of the liturgical year and the beginning of Advent point us to the coming judg- ment and end of the world. We may not relish contemplating death but doing so constitutes an essential ele- ment of a life well lived, realizing that our life on earth will decide how we spend eternity. Socrates described philosophy as a preparation for death and the same has been made for monasticism. ¬"Remember to keep death before your eyes daily," the great Patriarch of monks, St. Benedict, directed in his Rule (ch. 4). A French writer, Nicholas Diat, put this maxim to the test in his new book, A Time to Die: Monks on the Threshold of Eternal Life (Ignatius, 2019). Diat, known for his three interview books with Cardinal Robert Sarah, visited eight monasteries in France — Norbertines, Benedictines, Cistercians, and Carthusians — to talk to the monks about their experience of death. He describes why he wrote the book: "The West has worked hard to bury death more deeply in the vaults of its history. Today, the liturgy of death no longer exists. Yet fear and anxiety have never been as strong. Men no longer know how to die. In this desolate world, I had the idea to take the path of the great monasteries in order to discover what the monks might have to teach us about death. Behind cloister walls, they pass their existence in prayer and refl ection of the last things. I thought their testimonies could help people under- stand su€ ering, sickness, pain, and the fi nal moments of life. They have known complicated deaths, quick deaths, simple deaths. They have con- fronted death more often, and more intimately, than most who live out- side monastery walls" (13). I found that Diat achieved his objective. Although the monks live very di€ erent lives, they still face similar human struggles, sometimes magnifi ed by lack of distractions, including the dominance of technol- ogy in sickness and the last stages of life. The Benedictine Monastery of En-Calcat experienced many di¤ cult deaths and the superior, Dom David, related how sedation can make it hard to die: "We no longer feel life. We no longer feel humanity. We no longer feel God approaching " (55). When death approaches more naturally (or should we say supernaturally), the monks can die the "most beautiful death." Such was the death of Father Henri Rousselot, who died at 96: "His face in death was magnifi cent. He was supernaturally radiant. The monks had the impression that his features had been drawn by God. Everyone who entered this room was struck by his beauty. Each found the child that Father Henri had always been" (72). Some monasteries experienced di¤ cult deaths — young monks whose lives were cut short by cancer, or, in the case of the canon Brother Vincent, multiple sclerosis, sudden deaths, even in chapel, or cases of dementia or mental illness. It did seem, however, in my own assess- ment, that the more a monastery was withdrawn from the world and its cares the more peaceful the deaths of its monks. This was true especially of the Grand Chartreuse (see the fi lm Into Great Silence), where the monks live like hermits in the silent seclusion of prayer. Here the monks, already anticipating heaven, seem to die miraculously by slipping away peacefully. "The beauty of Carthusian deaths, sweet and simple, seems to bear witness to the fact that the spiri- tual combat of the sons of Bruno is so powerful that, in the fi nal hour, fears are abolished. In the last moments, the peace that dwells in them is so profound that the majority of them are not afraid to die alone. They have spent their lives in the silence of an austere cell that sees them leave this earth" (165). The book does not treat simply the experience of monks, but a central question for us all: "No one knows how he will live his death. Will we be co urageous, fearful, happy? Will we be cowards or heroes?" (114). It's time to start preparing now! A time to refl ect on death The Catholic Reader R. Jared Staudt, PhD, is a husband and father of six, the director of formation for the Archdiocese of Denver, a Benedictine oblate, prolifi c writer, and insatiable reader. DR. R. JARED STAUDT of selfi shness. Both are guilty of the crimes for which they are being pun- ished and deserve the death that is meted out to them in justice. Neither can escape from their su€ ering. They are like the rest of us. They are, how- ever, very di€ erent in the way that they view their own su€ ering and that of the i nnocent Man who is su€ ering with them. The bad thief does not care about justice. He does not feel guilty for the su€ ering he has caused to others. He wishes only to escape his own su€ er- ing. He scorns the innocent Man who is his God as he had scorned his fellow men who were his neighbors. Indeed God is his neighbor, nailed to the cross beside him for the sins the bad thief has committed. Insofar as the bad thief had caused su€ ering to his neighbor, he had caused su€ ering to his God. The good thief knows that he is as much a sinner as the bad thief and that he deserves equal punishment in justice for the su€ ering he has infl icted on his neighbor. The di€ er- ence is that he accepts his su€ ering and begs his God, and by extension his neighbor, to forgive him. In accepting the su€ ering he is accepting the forgiveness. In the acceptance of both he is accepted by God into His Kingdom. Thus the acceptance of suf- fering is the precursor of the joy that is its consequence. The acceptance of su€ ering may indeed be the secret of life, as Mau- rice Baring 's fi ctional priest tells us, but the joyful service of Christ on the Cross is the secret of love. It is a love that lays down its life for the lives of others, a love that welcomes every human life, however broken, in the fullness of the Love that will heal all brokenness. *Maurice Baring, "My Body Is a Broken Toy", published in Joseph Pearce,¬Flowers of Heaven: One Thousand Years of Christian Verse, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1999, p. 198 SAYING MASS "Father, are you saying Mass here today?" "Father, thanks for saying Mass." No, I'm not saying Mass. I'm celebrating Mass. Trying to eliminate my pet peeve is probably like spitting into the wind or pushing the proverbial lead sled. The expression "saying Mass" seems so entrenched that it may never be cor- rected. But I believe it sets and perpetu- ates the entirely wrong tone for anyone present at a mass. Here's why. First, just the tone itself sounds akin to a lifeless mechanical recitation or reading the phone book. "Hi, I'm going to recite the Constitution; wanna listen?" I didn't think so. Like reciting Mass, is it import- ant? Absolutely! Is it inspiring in this delivery? Hardly. Second, it is diametrically opposed to the very words of the Mass itself. The Peni- tential Rite at the opening of Mass sets the context for us with the words: "My brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins, and so prepare ourselves to CELEBRATE the sacred mysteries." From Eucharistic Prayer II: "Therefore, as we CELEBRATE the memorial of his Death and Resurrection." From Eucharistic Prayer III: "Therefore, O Lord, as we CEL- EBRATE the memorial of the saving Pas- sion of your Son." There is, indeed, something, someONE to celebrate. Jesus Christ, the living Son of God, incarnate in this world, raised from the dead and ascended to glory is now here with us, giving himself to us: body, blood, soul and divinity. "He who eats my fl esh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." Is this not indeed cause for celebration? So please pardon me if I reject the termi- nology of "saying Mass." It is so much more than that! It is truly a celebration! Father Dennis Garrou (Ret.) Evergreen, CO LETTER

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