Life Is A Gift
There have been some special moments in my life that will always remain with me. As a young priest I was called to the local hospital to anoint a man who was close to death. There was no family, nor loved ones, present at his bedside. He was alone and unconscious. I anointed him and said the prayer for the dying. I decided to remain seated with him, and very soon after he gently breathed his last breath. I felt I was present at a profound moment of his life and death, and it was a privilege to witness this sacred moment.
I recall this special moment today as we celebrate, on this Sunday, A Day for Life. The theme this year – chosen by the three Bishops’ conferences, of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland – is The Lord is my Shepherd: Compassion and Hope at the End of Life.
A debate on end-of-life issues has been in the headlines in recent months, with calls for assisted suicide being expressed, especially by celebrities – a view that opposes the Catholic view, that life is a gift and that we are called to care for others at the end of their lives. The Bishops encourage us in our parishes to promote the Catholic view of life as a gift and the importance of care at the end of life.
Henry Nouwen, a Catholic priest, writes:
‘Life is a gift. Each one of us is unique, known by name and loved by the One who fashioned us. Unfortunately, there is a very loud, consistent and powerful message coming to us from our world that leads us to believe that we must prove our belovedness by how we look, by what we have and by what we can accomplish. We become preoccupied with “making it” in this life and we are very slow to grasp the liberating truth of our origins and our finality. We need to hear the message announced and the message emboldened over and over again. Only then do we find the courage to claim it and live from it.’
In the Roman Missal, under the section Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions, there is a prayer for the Grace of a Happy Death:
O God, who has created us in your image and willed that your Son should undergo death for our sake, grant that those who call upon you may be watchful in prayer at all times, so that we may leave this world without stain of sin and may merit to rest with joy in your merciful embrace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son. Amen
