This is well worth reading - a post [here] on what is, in our modern culture, the lost art of a good death.
Comment and a link to the original article in The Telegraph from Fr Stephen Wang of Allen Hall, Chelsea.
What can we do more to prepare our people for the inevitable but almost now unsayable fact of death?
Simply talk about it more. It may be because these communities are not so ‘advanced’, but there is a basic willingness in most people here to talk about such difficult things. And I don’t think the younger generation has so many hangups about it: certainly my nephews (19 and 22) are happy to talk and indeed (as I discovered last night) sing about it.
ReplyDeleteI like to make sure it is a significant element of my preaching several times in the year – not morbidly, but as a matter of fact and of transformation. I also don’t shy away from getting people to prepare for it with prayer and repentance: the consciousness examen prior to the ‘little death’ of sleep remains a very effective tool.