Today I watched a man die.
I was trying to go to sleep, but something compelled me to get up and write about this. I'm not really sure why...I don't have anything profound to say.
My experience wasn't completely foreign to me. I have been with people until just a couple hours before their death. I have been with vacant bodies of people who have just died. I have been with many people who were friends and family of the deceased.
So, I am no stranger to death...
...but never had I been in a room, eyes locked on a man as he breathed his last, hearing the doctor pronounce the time of death followed by the wails and sobs of the wife he left behind...until today.
Fifteen minutes later, a Father from a local Catholic church, shuffled awkwardly into the room expecting to give the Last Rites, but ultimately reading the Prayers for the Dead and the Lord's Prayer.
I spent 3 hours in that room.
One hour of waiting for the nurses to take out the respirator.
One minute between the time it was removed and the time he stopped breathing - 10:49am.
And two more hours in a room with a dead man, his grieving wife, and her daughter.
I want to write more because I want to have the answers for the hard questions that emerge in times such as these.
Instead, I will end with one of the Prayers for the Dead that the Father read today.
God our Father,
Your power brings us to birth,
Your providence guides our lives,
and by Your command we return to dust.
Lord, those who die still live in Your presence,
their lives change but do not end.
I pray in hope for my family,
relatives and friends,
and for all the dead known to You alone.
In company with Christ,
Who died and now lives,
may they rejoice in Your kingdom,
where all our tears are wiped away.
Unite us together again in one family,
to sing Your praise forever and ever.
Amen.
I was trying to go to sleep, but something compelled me to get up and write about this. I'm not really sure why...I don't have anything profound to say.
My experience wasn't completely foreign to me. I have been with people until just a couple hours before their death. I have been with vacant bodies of people who have just died. I have been with many people who were friends and family of the deceased.
So, I am no stranger to death...
...but never had I been in a room, eyes locked on a man as he breathed his last, hearing the doctor pronounce the time of death followed by the wails and sobs of the wife he left behind...until today.
Fifteen minutes later, a Father from a local Catholic church, shuffled awkwardly into the room expecting to give the Last Rites, but ultimately reading the Prayers for the Dead and the Lord's Prayer.
I spent 3 hours in that room.
One hour of waiting for the nurses to take out the respirator.
One minute between the time it was removed and the time he stopped breathing - 10:49am.
And two more hours in a room with a dead man, his grieving wife, and her daughter.
I want to write more because I want to have the answers for the hard questions that emerge in times such as these.
Instead, I will end with one of the Prayers for the Dead that the Father read today.
God our Father,
Your power brings us to birth,
Your providence guides our lives,
and by Your command we return to dust.
Lord, those who die still live in Your presence,
their lives change but do not end.
I pray in hope for my family,
relatives and friends,
and for all the dead known to You alone.
In company with Christ,
Who died and now lives,
may they rejoice in Your kingdom,
where all our tears are wiped away.
Unite us together again in one family,
to sing Your praise forever and ever.
Amen.
