David L. Greenstock - Comfort for the Sick and Dying

Comfort for the Sick and Dying

And for Those Who Love Them

David L. Greenstock

SOPHIA INSTITUTE PRESS
Manchester, New Hampshire

Comfort for the Sick and Dying: And for Those Who Love Them was first published in 1956 by Newman Press, Westminster, Maryland, under the title Death: The Glorious Adventure. This 1999 edition by Sophia Institute Press contains minor editorial revisions to the original text.

Copyright 1999 Sophia Institute Press

Printed in the United States of America

All rights reserved Jacket design by Lorraine Bilodeau

The cover painting is a detail from .

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Nihil Obstat:
John M. T. Barton, S.T.D., L.S.S.,
Censor Deputatus

Imprimatur:
E. Morrogh Bernard,
Vicarius Generalis
Westminster, September 17, 1955

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Greenstock, David L., 1912
[Death] Comfort for the sick and dying : and for those who love them / David L. Greenstock.
p. cm.Originally published : Death : the glorious adventure. Westminster, Md., 1956.
ISBN 0-918477-96-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Suffering Religious aspects Christianity. 2. Spiritual life Catholic Church. 3. Catholic Church Doctrines. I. Title.BT732.7.V3 1997
231.8 dc2197-13385 CIP

Editors Note: The biblical references in the following pages are based on the Douay-Rheims edition of the Old and New Testaments. Where applicable, quotations have been cross-referenced with the differing numeration in the Revised Standard Version, using the following symbol: (RSV =).

Foreword

This book is written especially for those who are sick or in danger of death. However, it may also be useful to others who at the moment are in perfect health, because we never know when God is going to demand from us an account of our stewardship. Its main purpose is to explain in simple language those great truths of our Faith which alone can help us when we find ourselves face-to-face with the only reality God.

Just as it is natural that we should be afraid of death, so also it is equally natural that we should be prepared for it. There is no real need for us to be afraid of it, provided we are ready to meditate on Gods mercy toward sinners and to consider the means which He has given us to prepare for the next life.

All suffering comes to us from the hands of a God who loves us above all things. He does not will pain for its own sake, but because He knows that good can come of it. It is hoped that this book will bring some consolation to those who are sick and will enable them to unite their sufferings with those of the crucified Christ in such a way that they may be perfectly prepared to see God face-to-face when the moment comes. Christ has conquered death, and we can conquer it, too, if we follow His example and use the means which He has given us.

Chapter One

Death is the gateway to eternal life

One of the fundamental instincts of man is self-preservation. It is natural that we should cling to life, because God has given it to us and it is a good thing. At the same time, we know that death is inevitable. The evidence is all around us, and although we may try to ignore it because we do not like to think about it, nevertheless it intrudes upon our thoughts from time to time. The day will come when this life ceases for us and a new life begins. From the physical point of view, we are aware of death and we know what it means. The soul is withdrawn from the body to which it has given movement, sensation, and life. This dissolution may be gradual or sudden, it may come in youth or in old age, and it may be more or less painful, but it is inevitable. It is a law of nature as inexorable as any of her other laws, and like so many others before us, we, too, shall have to submit to it.

Fear of death is natural

Faced with this reality, we are afraid, and to a certain extent, it is natural that we should be, in spite of the fact that we have been raised by God above the natural level and placed, through His mercy, on a divine plane. A closer examination of this fear of death shows us that it is a complex thing. There is an unknown quantity about death which frightens us we know so little about the life of a soul separated from the body. It is hard for us to imagine an existence without bodily sensations, a life in which sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing are denied to us. We have no experience of the life of a pure spirit, and the unknown and unexperienced are always frightening.

However, that is not all. As Catholics we are aware of our obligations toward God, and we have some idea, however vague, of the gap between the creature and the Creator. Death means the end of this life, but it also means the beginning of a new life, and there is an examination to be passed before we can take up our new existence. It is appointed unto man once to die and after death the judgment. If we examine our fear of death, we shall find that it is centered on this fact. All our thoughts, words, deeds, and omissions will be passed in review, and the result will decide the issue either a life with God for all eternity or a life without Him. When we think of Gods majesty and our own weakness, we are afraid and small wonder.

Then, too, in spite of all its difficulties, our life on this earth has not been without its pleasures. We have enjoyed it, even though it has been interlaced with sorrow and pain. We know it so well: its routine, its surprises, its pleasures. In fact, we have thought rather too much of it, as if it were the only enduring thing we had to grasp hold of, instead of being a transitory pleasure, a means to higher things. Now we have to leave it, and with it our friends, our possessions, our interests, and our responsibilities. It is not easy, because not only have those things become familiar companions, but through our mistaken ideas about them, they have also become an essential element in our well-being. Death seems such a final break with all that we have known and loved. We hate the thought of it, and we are afraid of the reality.

It is important to prepare for death

Yet, in spite of all this, if we are wise, we shall not shrink from the thought of death. The very fact that it is inevitable should make us take pains to prepare for it while we have time. After all, we know enough about it to realize that it is the most important thing we shall ever do in this life and that an eternity depends on the manner in which we do it. Indeed, a closer study of it may reveal factors which modify, if they do not altogether remove, our excessive fear of it.

Undoubtedly, this idea of preparing for death is present to the minds of all Catholics worthy of the name, even though they may tend to put it off until another occasion. We all mean to die as well as we can when the moment comes, but in our heart of hearts, most of us feel that we still have plenty of time. Yet, experience and our Lords stern warnings point to the fact that we simply do not know when we shall die. God has hidden from us the time, place, and circumstances of our death. Therefore, there is only one safe course open to us namely, to make our preparation now, not merely by adopting the correct attitude of mind toward death, but also by making quite sure that we understand the full import and purpose of this life.

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