Death

There's a catchy title for a blog!

I was called in to be with a person who was dying yesterday. I stood with friends and family around her bedside and prayed.
It is very possible that as I prayed she died.
Afterward, people were feeling for a pulse and looking for breathing and there was none. So, she passed right then and there.

I have been with two other women at that moment when they passed from death to life. One was a parishioner in Bowling Green and I was talking to one of her friends and we looked back and realized that she had died. It was very anticlimactic.

The other was my mother. I stood with my brothers at her bedside and we had been told that the end was near. As we stood there, it was very clear because she started to bleed from her mouth. It wss meaningful to me as I thought about the blood that comes with birth and now that which comes with death. My brother didn't see it that way.

I remember hearing one woman tell me a story about sitting with her 30 + year old daughter as she died and this woman said that she saw the soul leave her body. It is all very mysterious.

we had another death in the church yesterday and in this case the man died in a nursing home while his wife was surrounded by family at a baby shower. While she regrets not being with him, she was certainly supported by love. And so many times, we know about the family members who keep up a vigil and the person passes on after they leave the room. Some people think, that they are waiting for us to leave so they can leave.

All I know is that it is certainly holy and mysterious and I feel blessed to have a life where I get to be with people during these sacred times and help them to experience God's presence and love.