Momento Mori in 2021

                                                                        Sister Aletheia 

So I commend enjoyment, for there is nothing better for people under the sun than to eat, and drink, and enjoy themselves, for this will go with them in their toil through the days of life that God gives them under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 8:15

 we therefore commit this body to the ground, 

earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; 

in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life.

Book of Common Prayer:

Over the years I've offered, wryly, that I've witnessed death and it is highly overrated. I've also observed that there are worse things than physically death, often after watching good people suffer at the end of this life. And through I ministry I affirmed our resurrection hope in Christ, that death doesn't have the final say. 

During the past 14 months we've all had our fill of death and more. Roughly 25,000 Canadians have died of a virus, while untold millions have perished around the planet. Even though the majority of us haven't lost a loved one to COVID, either in our personal circle or within the life of our congregations, the spectre of death has been very real. It's curious, though, that we are generally a death-denying a culture, less and less willing to have honest conversations about death, and unwilling to engage in rituals of grief even when it comes knocking on the door. 

I read an article in the New York Times about a 40-year-old nun named Sister Aletheia who is working to revive (pun intended) the discipline or practice of pondering our mortality. She has developed quite a following, including on social media:

... since 2017, she has made it her mission to revive the practice of memento mori, a Latin phrase meaning “Remember your death.” The concept is to intentionally think about your own death every day, as a means of appreciating the present and focusing on the future. It can seem radical in an era in which death — until very recently — has become easy to ignore. “My life is going to end, and I have a limited amount of time,” Sister Aletheia said. “We naturally tend to think of our lives as kind of continuing and continuing.

I wish I could share the entire article because it isn't about being morose and morbid. One person shares this observation:

“She has such a gift for talking about really difficult things with joy,” said Christy Wilkens, a Catholic writer and mother of six outside Austin, Texas. “She’s so young and vibrant and joyful and is also reminding us all we’re going to die.” Ms. Wilkens credits memento mori with giving her the “spiritual tools” to grapple with her 9-year-old son’s serious health issues. “It has allowed me, not exactly to cope, but to surrender everything to God,” she said.

I don't know how comfortable you are in addressing death and dying with your loved ones, or in your own daily thoughts. I do thinks Sister Aletheia is on to something. Perhaps the pandemic will nudge us toward honesty about the inevitable end of this life and the possibilities of another. I won't hold my breath.