Just Start (8): "Be with them to the end"

People from Russia, Brazil and Colombia speak about their efforts to assist the dying. A new video in the series on the works of mercy.

Suggestions for action

— Pray for the sick, for the dying, and for those who have died and their families and friends.

— When the occasion arises, try to console and accompany someone who has suffered the death of a loved one.

— With your guidance and help, if required, try to make it possible for those who are near death to receive the anointing of the sick.

— Make regular visits to a grave site, especially of family members and friends, and offer suffrages for the dead.

Quotes from Sacred Scripture to reflect on

— “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (Jn 11:25-26).

— But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep (1 Thess 4:13-14).

— If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living (Rom 14:8-9).

Quotes form Pope Francis to reflect on

— The Church invites constant prayer for her own loved ones stricken with suffering. There must never be a lack of prayer for the sick. But rather, we must pray more, both personally and as a community (Audience, June 10, 2015).

— Within the realm of family bonds, the illness of our loved ones is endured with an “excess” of suffering and anguish. It is love that makes us feel this “excess.” So often for a father or a mother, it is more difficult to bear a son or daughter’s the pain than one’s own. The family, we can say, has always been the nearest “hospital” (Audience, June 10, 2015).

— Remembering the dead, caring for their graves and prayers of suffrage, are the testimony of confident hope, rooted in the certainty that death does not have the last word on human existence, for man is destined to a life without limits, which has its roots and its fulfillment in God (Angelus, November 2, 2014).

Quotes from Saint Josemaria to reflect on

— To die is a good thing. How can anyone with faith be, at the same time, afraid to die? But as long as the Lord wants to keep you here on earth, it would be cowardice for you to want to die. You must live, live and suffer and work for Love: that is your task (The Forge, no. 1037).

— You became very serious when you heard me say: I accept death whenever God wants it, the way he wants it, where he wants it; and at the same time I think it is too easy to die early, because we should want to work many years for him, and because of him, in the service of others (The Forge, no. 1039).

— We do not belong to ourselves. Jesus Christ has bought us with his Passion and with his Death. We are his life. From now on there is only one way of living on earth: to die with Christ so as to rise again with Him, to the point that we can say with the Apostle: It is not I that live, it is Christ that lives in me (Gal 2:20) (The Way of the Cross, 14th station).

Link to Audio of Prelate: Burying the Dead