The Monastic Approach to Dying

As we at the Mount keep vigil with two elderly sisters who are in a dying state, the words of St. Benedict to keep death daily before us become more pointed and poignant. Our morning and evening prayers feel weighted with a deeper sacredness, as those who are dying seem to be praying the psalms with us:

When I am afraid, I trust you, God Most High,

I glory in your promise, I trust you without fear.

⍏

We are little more than breath; our days, fleeting shadows.

⍏

As a deer craves running water, I thirst for you, my God;

I thirst for God, the living stream.

When will I see God’s face?

It is instructive to see how sitting in vigil with those who are dying becomes part of the natural rhythm of the day: attend communal prayers, eat meals, attend to daily tasks, sit by the bedside of one who is dying. It is the final gift of those who are leaving us: to allow us to accompany them as they do the work of dying, when they are at their most vulnerable and are entering into a new intimacy with God, and to help us become attuned to the sacredness of life in the face of death.

The monastic approach to dying is very different from that of the secular world, in that it is communal, prayerful, and undertaken in trust. It is another reason I am grateful to be part of a monastic community.