Knocking at the Doorway of Death

In the past two weeks, four sisters of Mount St. Scholastica have died: Sr. Berlinda Gallegos on October 9, Sisters Celinda Medina and Paula Howard on October 24, and Sr. Sheila Carroll on October 25. When I was a staff member at Shantivanam House of Prayer, we used to pray for those who had “walked through the doorway of death,” so it was fitting that today in our communion hymn, we sang “Knock and the door shall be opened.”

These sisters had unique journeys through life — among them, they taught every grade level from preschool through college, provided elder care, wrote icons and books, provided spiritual direction, led retreats, and lived with various debilitating illnesses. Likewise, just as every woman’s labor to give birth is different, their labors to gain release from their bodies in order to be born into new life were different.

These labors are sometimes difficult to watch. When I was sitting with Sr. Celinda a few hours before she died, an aide came in and said, “I know you all try to make this happy, but I have a hard time with death.” The work of dying often is a struggle, but we are able to view this transition with joy because we know that when one of our sisters who is at the doorway of death knocks, the door will be opened by the One who says, “Come to me, all you who thirst; come, and life shall be yours” (Rev. 21:6).

Because Jesus walked the passageways of death before us, we can trust that he is the way for us in death as in life. There is nowhere Christ is not with us, even in death. And so, whether our labors are brief or prolonged, new life awaits and we can say with Dag Hammarskjold, “For all that has been, thanks! For all that will be, yes!”