Resurrection

During the last two weeks, I have been privileged to companion a dear friend and kindred spirit as she approached death. Our conversations during this time had very little to do with the physical reality, because we both knew that there was little more to say. Her body was being consumed and was dissolving -- each day there was less of the flesh and no desire to give the body any more attention.

Instead, we spoke of the increasing wellness of her soul, and the magnifying peace of being closer, moment by moment, to the passage into final rest-- into eternal wholeness and wellness in Christ.

She gave me a picture that she had treasured for years. The road was one traveled by many. The tree was simultaneously dead...barren and beautifully alive. I cherish the image as an expression of all that I experienced with Regina in the last hours I shared with her.


The poem inscribed on the picture, by Julia Esquivel, reads:

Accompany us then on this vigil
And you will know what it is to dream!
You wiill then know how marvelous it is to live threatened with Resurrection!

To dream awake,
To keep watch asleep.
To live while dying and to know oneself

Resurrected


Thank you, gracious God for the gift of your love and the promise of the resurrection -- now a full and final reality for your dear and blessed child, Regina.