The Treasures of a Lifetime

Our lives are like a kaleidoscope — a jumble of experiences, feelings, relationships, prayers, challenges, and hopes. It is only after we die that all the pieces come together in a beautiful pattern that is illuminated by the risen Christ.

On All Souls Day, we remember the kaleidoscopic lives of our loved ones who have walked through the doorway of death. It’s also a day to think about how we want to live in preparation for the day death comes to our own door. Rabindranath Tagore wrote the following poem about how, in the words of St. Francis of Assisi, we can praise God through “our Sister, bodily death”:

When death comes to your door

at the end of the day,
what treasures will you hand over to him?
I’ll bring my full soul before him.
I’ll not send him away empty-handed
the day he comes to my door.
Into my life-vessel pours the nectar
of countless evenings and dawns,
of numberless autumn and spring nights.
My heart gets filled with the sight
of endless fruits and flowers,
with the touch of joy and sorrow’s light and shade.
All the treasures I’ve gathered
during my lifelong preparation
I’m now arranging for the last day
to give it all to death –
the day death comes to my door.

May we all live in such a way that the treasures of our life create a remarkable kaleidoscope to carry with us into eternal life.