Many are those who like to think of death as no more than a leave dropping from a tree, becoming dust and disappearing into the earth. She feels they are nihilistic in their understanding of life and then goes on to give the Christian view.
At a funeral Mass, we hear often the words: "Death where is your victory? Death where is your sting?" For St. Paul death is the beginning of a new life. She mentions how her community has a tradition of attending the funerals of the sisters' parents. Death is experienced as a death of their own parent. Yes, nihilistic thinking is not possible for a Christian for no matter how difficult, sad, and disappointing life may be, hope is always present.
The American province of the sisters has an average age of over eighty and she lists some of the last words of those who have died which the community sends on to the other members spread throughout the world. Many have gratitude for the opportunity they had to share their God-given talents with others.
She concludes her article with the Russian novelist Tolstoy who spent much time meditating on the meaning of death. She brings to our attention the novel: The Death of Ivan Ilyich and how he died in peace after understanding how artificial his life had been.
Trying to attain what everybody considered success he suppressed the feelings that were real for the artificiality of life which he went on to seek. To reflect on a life without meaning is painful and facing death without future meaning is tragic.
Some live but are dead. She mentions the words of Tolstoy in one of his novels where he compares life to that of a farmer. When the time is proper he plants seeds, cares for the plants, and at the proper time harvests. He follows the laws of nature and does the proper things at the proper times—living virtuously. It's the good we do that gives meaning to life and will live after we are gone.
Death, we need to remember, is part of life it focuses our attention on what is important. One of the losses is leaving those we love but for those who believe, that is just one aspect, for death is also a gift. The good done will be the reason for our gratitude for life. We remember the love of those who have gone before us and try to pass on that love to others. She makes her own the words of St.Paul: Death where is they victory, where is thy sting? (1 Cor. 15:55)
