Contemplating One's Own Death

  • Thread starter Thread starter goodcatholic
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
The Rule of St. Benedict also says, “Keep death daily before your eyes,” which is not, I think, an exhortation to be forever morose and morbid and self-absorbed, but rather, to always try to be somewhat mindful, in the midst of all our daily activities, of our final destination.
 
Last edited:
I recall now that Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane contemplated his imminent suffering and death.
 
If you visit your attorney and complete the proper paperwork, chances are good you won’t need to be in pain and suffering. My family member just died in hospice care and it was incredibly peaceful, thanks to the care and the meds.
 
And recently you know. I have considered not requesting a funeral. There is just my partner and I. Why waste money on it. Funerals are overrated I think. The next life is what counts anyway.
 
Go for the funeral. You deserve it after a long life. It will be that last thing you get to decide. Even if it’s early in the morning, it won’t be hard showing up. And if the minister’s homily is too long, I promise you that you will not be bored. You may be stiff as a board. But you won’t be bored. 😜
 
I hate the medicine that so now dominates so many deaths, death is a powerful thing to watch in a person who goes to it sober.

Of course, I suppose a lot of people like to be able to have the medicine. But, it almost feels like the current culture is to go through life thinking of the present moment, and then when you have to die just drug you up, you’ll barely be there. That’s not right to me. Would a hospital or hospice respect my wishes to not be drugged up as I near death? If so, do they need to be written down in a legal sort of way, like with a will?

But, thinking on death makes us want a good death, and a good death is had by a good life. Therefore, we want a good life of right reason and virtue. Keep me in your prayers!
 
Last edited:
I am often late for Mass, and I bet I will even be late to my own funeral, as in “the late Random Alias.”

I don’t mind the funeral, but what I really don’t want is for the priest to give one of those praise-filled homilies, like “Do not be sorrowful on his behalf. He was such a good man, he is already in heaven.” No. That will only prolong my stay in Purgatory.

I want him to bring on the fire and brimstone and make everyone pray for me. “He was a sinner such as our parish has rarely seen. A deceiver, a destroyer, and a cheat. He craved wealth, power, honor, and most of all pleasure. He was not troubled as you and I are by pangs of conscience or remorse. And such pride! His last words were ‘I did it my way.’ We will now kneel and pray the Rosary. As you leave, please pick up one of the packets we have prepared, with sackcloth and ashes for your forty-day fast…”
 
Last edited:
I don’t plan to go to mine either. Well, maybe a wake. Wel’ll see.
 
To add a thought to your original post, I think it’s best if we do try to live each day as it’s our last day. (It’s an idea that is always worth repeating.)

If we always do this, then one day it really will be out last, and we will have spent it well. It should not be forgotten that for some death does not come gradually, but in an instant. We should always be prepared.
 
Last edited:
I apologize that I had to repeat this post but I think it is relevant to the topic.
I remembered Myshkin’s monologue, the hero of Dostoevsky novel, who in one moment understood revelational truth.

A short passage from the master in which Prince Myshkin recalls the story of an imprisoned friend who suddenly had his death sentence reversed. It’s a remarkable depiction of how even something as beautiful as gratitude can be turned into a new Law. That is, when we make a gracious act into something that has to be lived up to, rather than received, we revert to the same old slavery. The Prince seems to hold on to some hope that some form of meaningful “reckoning” is possible, though maybe not observably so. The passage begins with Myshkin retelling his friend’s inner-monologue while imprisoned:
…he said nothing was more oppressive for him atthat moment than the constant thought: ‘What if I were not to die! What if life were given back to me–what infinity! And it would all be mine! Then I’d turn each minute into a whole age, I’d lose nothing, I’d reckon up every minute separately, I’d let nothing be wasted!’ He said that in the end this thought turned into such anger in him that he wished they would hurry up and shoot him.”
…”You’re very fragmentary,” observed Alexandra. “…That is all very praiseworthy, but, forgive me, what ever happened to the friend who told you all those horrors…his punishment was changed, which means he was granted ‘infinite life.’ Well, what did he do with so much wealth afterwards? Did he live ‘reckoning up’ every minute?”
“Oh, no, he told me himself–I asked him about it–he didn’t live that way at all and lost many, many minutes.”
“Well, so there’s experience for you, so it’s impossible to live really ‘keeping a reckoning.’ There’s always some reason why it’s impossible.”
“Yes, for some reason it’s impossible,” the prince repeated. “I thought so myself… But still it’s somehow hard to believe…”

That’s how it sounds in the original.

 
Athanasiy said:
He said that in the end this thought turned into such anger in him that he wished they would hurry up and shoot him.”
Click to expand...
Our mind is the problem. Suicidal people just want to escape their mind, their thoughts. They don’t really want to suicide. If they could transform their mind, they might want to live.
Hey thanks foir your (name removed by moderator)ut by the way Athanasy. I love Dosteovesky. This is from “The Idiot”?
 
Yes it is “The Idiot” by Fyodor Dostoyevskiy
 
Last edited:
goodcatholic said:
this narcissistic
Click to expand...
No, the Fathers are very explicit that part of being a Christian means contemplating death on a daily, even an hourly basis.

Worldly people and unbelievers usually never contemplate or even think of death, for it is the end of everything to them.

Christians and theists in general contemplate it however, since to us it is merely the door through which True Life is accessed.

I strongly suggest you read this: http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2010/07/sisoes-great-and-contemplation-of-death.html?m=1
 
Last edited:
Victor Hugo also has interesting thoughts in his work “The Last Day of a Condemned Man”, and Leo Tolstoy has a novel “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”.
The Death of Ivan Ilyich tells the story of a high-court judge, and his sufferings and death from a terminal illness in 19th-century Russia, but Victor Hugo wrote his novel to express his feelings that the death penalty should be abolished.
In both works there are interesting thoughts, but in Dostoyevsky we witness the cry of the human soul about repentance.
One of my favorite writers is of course Victor Hugo, but in this case thinking about the value of time, Myshkin in Dostoyevsky is more profound thought.
 
Last edited:
goodcatholic said:
Is this narcissistic? To think at least a few minutes every day, on what our last hour of life will be like. Fearing the inability to cope with pain and suffering.

Should I say the Hail Mary more often? “now and at the hour of our death Amen”.
Click to expand...
It’s not at all narcissistic. I think the fear of the inability to cope with pain and suffering comes from the fact that you don’t have the grace to cope with it yet because you don’t need it right now. Ask Mary to pray that you will have all the grace you need to have a peaceful and holy death and then trust that she is able to obtain this favor from her Son for you. Hail Mary’s are always good.
 
Last edited:
You might consider the devotion of the Five First Saturdays. Mary promised to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation all those who, in order to make reparation to me, on the First Saturday of five successive months, go to confession, receive Holy Communion, say five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for a quarter of an hour, meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary.
If we do this, we need not fear pain and suffering, which are minor things after all compared with heaven.
 
Viki63 said:
You might consider the devotion of the Five First Saturdays. Mary promised to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation all those who, in order to make reparation to me, on the First Saturday of five successive months, go to confession, receive Holy Communion, say five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for a quarter of an hour, meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary.
Click to expand...
I appreciate your sincere advice. I don’t think I will ever be someone who embraces the sacraments and devotions to the extent that people like you do. Maybe I should eh…
 
RandomAlias said:
I want him to bring on the fire and brimstone and make everyone pray for me. “He was a sinner such as our parish has rarely seen. A deceiver, a destroyer, and a cheat. He craved wealth, power, honor, and most of all pleasure. He was not troubled as you and I are by pangs of conscience or remorse. And such pride! His last words were ‘I did it my way.’ We will now kneel and pray the Rosary. As you leave, please pick up one of the packets we have prepared, with sackcloth and ashes for your forty-day fast…”
Click to expand...
True Story… The priest conducting the funeral mass for my friend’s aunt did exactly this. The family wasn’t expecting it and was none too pleased. They had to tell the priest, immediately following the mass that he wasn’t welcome at the graveside service and they had to find a priest at the neighboring parish to step in. Fifteen years later and the whole family is still hot over it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top