The Individual, the Church, and the Ars Moriendi (the Art of Dying), Part 6

The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7:1: “A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth.”

The featured quote for this episode is from Natalie Babbitt. She said, "Don't be afraid of death; be afraid of an unlived life. You don't have to live forever, you just have to live."

Our topic for today is titled "The Individual, the Church, and the Ars Moriendi (the Art of Dying), Part 6" from the book, "The Art of Dying: Living Fully into the Life to Come" by Rob Moll.

--- A Beautiful Injury

As Donne’s final weeks attest, he remained spiritually alive even as his body neared death. He eagerly awaited and looked for his entrance to life with God. He prayed, and having let go of things on earth, began to clutch those of heaven. 

Yet, while Donne died well, those who loved him still mourned. Good deaths, even the best of them, are terrible because they separate — if only temporarily — people who have intertwined their lives. So, Christian history teaches us, the good death still injures the community. Death, even the good or happy death, is a painful event. It is evil and not a part of God’s creation, though God can bring good from it. And those closest to the deceased, in particular, need their wounds healed.

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