And this ethical principle applies to everyone, not just Christians or believers.In this installment of “Thunderstorm: Sleep and Relax in the Rain,” we invite you to immerse yourself in the harmonious symphony of raindrops. Life is a right, not death, which must be welcomed, not administered. I would point out that the right to care and treatment for all must always be prioritised, so that the weakest, particularly the elderly and the sick, are never discarded. We must accompany people towards death, but not provoke death or facilitate any form of suicide. However, we must be careful not to confuse this help with unacceptable drifts towards killing. Indeed, we must be grateful for all the help that medicine endeavours to give, so that through so-called “palliative care”, every person who is preparing to live the last stretch of their life can do so in the most human way possible. That phrase of the faithful people of God, of the simple people: “Let him die in peace”, “help him to die in peace”: such wisdom! The second consideration concerns the quality of death itself, the quality of pain, of suffering. The first: we cannot avoid death, and precisely for this reason, after having done everything that is humanly possible to cure the sick, it is immoral to engage in futile treatment (cf. Two considerations stand for us Christians. It is good to die reconciled, without grudges and without regrets! I would like to say one truth: we are all on our way towards that door, all of us. Or, what is the point of arguing with a brother, with a sister, with a friend, with a relative, or with a brother or sister in faith, if then one day we will die? What point is there in being angry, in getting angry with others? Before death, many issues are brought down to size. What we must accumulate is love, and the ability to share, the ability not to remain indifferent when faced with the needs of others. It makes no sense to accumulate if one day we will die. This solitude of death: it is true, I have never seen a hearse followed by a removals van. We will go alone, with nothing in the pockets of our shroud: nothing. I have never seen a removals van following a hearse! Behind a hearse: I have never seen one. Indeed, thinking about death, enlightened by the mystery of Christ, helps us to look at all of life through fresh eyes. Not only that: we can restore a positive role to death. The tenderness of that farewell…ĭear brothers and sisters, it is only through faith in resurrection that we can face the abyss of death without being overwhelmed by fear. And the nurse bravely took out her mobile phone and put her in touch with them. A nurse told me that she was in front of a grandmother who was dying, and who said to her, “I would like to say goodbye to my family, before I leave”. It was terrible: death was everywhere, and so many brothers and sisters lost loved ones without being able to be near them, and this made death even harder to accept and process. It is good advice that he has given us, isn’t it? The so-called “feel-good” culture tries to remove the reality of death, but the coronavirus pandemic has brought it back into focus in a dramatic way. “I am before the obscurity of death, at the dark door of death”. It is good to thank the Pope who has this clarity, at 95, to tell us this. Pope Benedict said, a few days ago, speaking of himself, that he “is before the dark door of death”. Dear brothers and sisters, perhaps some people think that this language and this theme are only a legacy of the past, but in reality, our relationship with death is never about the past – it always present.
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