“death is pregnant with existence and with love as a result of what ...

(photo: Fred Pixlab/Unsplash.com)

Sister Theresa Aletheia Noble, F.S.P. is a former atheist who is now a spiritual sister with the Daughters of St. Paul. She lives in Boston, the place she serves as an editor for Pauline Books and Media, and is herself the editor of the Memento Mori prayer book sequence focusing on the 4 last things of death, judgment, heaven, and hell.

I lately interviewed Sister Noble via e-mail about the subject of demise, a normal center of attention of Catholic prayer all over the month of November, and its position in our latest put up-COVID world. The transcript of our interview is under.

CWR: all over the month of November, Catholics traditionally pray to and for the dead, touring cemeteries besides celebrating All Saints and All Souls Day. Why do Catholics center of attention so a good deal on loss of life during this manner?

Sister Theresa Aletheia Noble: For Catholics, dying is illuminated by way of the life, loss of life, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ has overcome death. So, Christians don't simply bear in mind the dead, we trust that our prayers make a change in the afterlife. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI wrote, "That love can reach into the afterlife … has been a primary conviction of Christianity."

So, I wouldn't say our focus is on death per se, but that's the way it can appear. For us, death is pregnant with life and with love as a result of what Christ has completed for us. Our prayers for the dead reside during this paradoxical area of Christian hope in loss of life and the supply of their efficacy is in the vigor of the move.

CWR: the continuing COVID pandemic has increased nervousness among individuals about dying. How could praying with demise support us overcome our fears about it?

Sister Theresa: Whereas we may continuously be able to ignore loss of life and push it from our minds, reminders of dying are now ever-present. It's a top quality of human existence to event the anxiety of dying and the pandemic has raised this anxiety to the floor of regular life. here is now not necessarily a negative consequence of the pandemic. Exploring our concern of demise within the context of our faith will also be an excellent chance for grace. concern of dying is comprehensible; our existence is first rate and, as St. Ambrose wrote, "death changed into no longer a part of nature; it became part of nature." dying comes from sin. we would be silly no longer to worry dying at least in some feel. despite the fact, at the same time, in On the Incarnation, St. Athanasius describes the disciples of Christ as those who "despise dying." So the question turns into, how can we move from this natural fear of death to this fearlessness it's the mark of a Christian? we are able to best despise demise and lose our worry of it by using meditating on our inevitable loss of life continually in the context of what Christ has completed for us.

CWR: This yr, we could be grieving no longer best the demise of our pre-COVID routines and relationships, but the loss of life of our illusions of political team spirit. In what methods may praying with demise assist us settle for the imperfect reality of our nation being about equally divided on the Biden-Trump election?

Sister Theresa: in my view, the political division we're experiencing is the outcome of the herbal decline of a relativistic society it truly is struggling to find tips on how to find reality collectively. despite the fact, no remember the place this division leads, our assurance is not within the steadiness of our country's government; it's now not in our nation's privileged status on earth, and it's no longer in any political candidate. The simplest rock and refuge in our lives is God himself. Meditation on loss of life can root us in the stability and firmness of the love of God and this helps us to navigate the troubles of this life. The observe of memento mori or meditating on one's dying is a tradition that puts lifestyles in perspective. St. Elizabeth of the Trinity wrote, "We see the genuine price of issues by using the gentle of eternity. Oh, how empty all is that has no longer been achieved for God and with God! i urge you to mark all of your doings with the seal of affection; it is the most effective component that lasts! . . . What a significant thing life is!"

CWR: How do you pray with demise for your personal existence all over this tricky year of quarantines?

Sister Theresa: i am on my third year of praying with my demise everyday and that i in reality have felt my inadequacy this year. considering my event with meditation on loss of life has been somewhat public, people have grew to become to me for wisdom and suggestions this yr but I nonetheless feel very a great deal like a beginner during this apply. What I have learned over the last three years is effortlessly that, even though it's very potent, meditation on demise is not magical. It has changed my lifestyles in many techniques but, like the rest of the non secular existence, there are valleys and hills in meditation on dying and traversing the valleys is just as essential as hiking the hills. but I think embracing those moments of humiliation and fear is a part of this follow. We die to ourselves and to our delight in the method of praying with our demise to be able to in reality give ourselves over to grace.

CWR: How have your personal beliefs about death changed considering the fact that you returned from atheism to Catholicism?

Sister Theresa: i was a materialist atheist for over a decade. as an example, I did not believe in the immortal soul. but i was also an animal rights activist and infrequently turned into unsettled via the implications of this worldview taken to the severe. i used to be a strict vegan, but I could not ever settle for what many animal rights' activists argue, that speciesism—a blind prejudice for one's personal species—is the best cause human lifestyles is inherently greater helpful than animal life. I wrestled with this problem and others for years until I had a conversion experience while i was touring in Costa Rica. My experience of God in that moment at last led me back to the Church and then into the convent.

Intellectually, I authorized the teachings of the Church across the afterlife after I entered the convent however really became in the course of the follow of memento mori that I begun to take into account and embrace it greater utterly. not everybody has my background however I believe many Catholics are useful atheists, particularly when it comes to the afterlife. So I suppose this observe can also be effective to many people in an effort to really mull over and digest the mysteries of our religion.

CWR: if you could decide on a customer saint of loss of life, who would it's and why?

Sister Theresa: I could choose so many. all the saints have been focused on their dying somehow because they were concentrated on living for union with God. Our sisters, the Daughters of Saint Paul, are beginning a podcast and our first full episode is really going to be about "memento mori saints." So i hope people will check it out! they can find out greater about what our sisters are as much as online at thedaughtersproject.com and they can locate the podcast on any streaming platform below the identify "The Daughters venture."

CWR: apart from inserting the dead Jesus on a pass on the middle of our worship areas, what's multiple about the Catholic point of view on demise?

Sister Theresa: The Catholic religion is awfully incarnational. i might argue that this enables us to greater quite simply see non secular realities in the fabric than other faiths. Our religion makes it simpler to keep in mind that the fabric ending of our body—which ends up in dying, decay, and decay—has an extra ending within the resurrection: "consequently, says the Lord God: look! i am going to open your graves; i will make you come up out of your graves, my people" (Ez 37:12).

CWR: What do you hope people take far from your work in demise?

Sister Theresa: The phrase "memento mori" has turn into more and more commonplace to Catholics in the past few years, partly probably as a result of my efforts to talk about it publicly on-line and in my books. My difficulty, although, is that for some Catholics memento mori is a trendy phrase rather than a real religious apply. day by day meditation on loss of life is not glamorous or cool; it's penitential. truly taking up the pass of every day meditation on death is far more elaborate than speakme about it nonetheless it also has much more non secular fruits.

in case you value the information and views Catholic World document provides, please consider donating to guide our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR accessible to all readers international for gratis, without a subscription. thanks in your generosity!

click right here for extra suggestions on donating to CWR. click here to sign in for our newsletter.