Passing through, don’t you know
We’re just passing through?
This journey of life, so full of strife —
We’re just passing through.
It’s all just a dream, or so it seems —
Sometimes a nightmare of terrors,
Or at it’s best — a comedy of errors.
The saints and sinners,
The losers, the winners.
The rich and famous,
The poor and infamous.
The weak, the strong,
The hopeful, the wrong.
All loved by God,
All beautiful in His eyes —
No time to compromise
His love for you.
Well, our older cat may be in her last days, so this poem came to mind.
It’s really more about people, but maybe it’s all connected.
——————————————————————
A meditation on death …
‐‐—‐———————-
The light shines for awhile,
And then it palls.
Remember the light
When darkness falls.
Remember the good,
Remember the best,
Hold on in your heart,
To memory best.
Think not of the end,
For it really begins
A new door to freedom,
A new door within.
Many good times
Of laughter and love.
All multiplied
In heav’n above.
Bury me by the river,
Though I hope to be heaven-bound.
If there are rivers in heaven,
They’ll be peaceful, and broad, and sound.
The water brings deep refreshment,
Its lapping, a spirit of calm.
When the saints go down to the river,
There will be a glorious song.
Oh, bury me by the river,
And I’ll think of you in my new home,
And pray for your peace and protection,
As through life’s trials you roam.
[I wrote this after I had an infected kidney stone episode on 2/2/2023. An infected kidney could lead to sepsis. Was in hospital two nights. Doctor put a stent in and drained the infection. 2/14/2023 — Kidney stone and stent removed. Much better now!]
I praise you, O Lord,
For you have rescued me from the path to death.
Once, twice, and three times now,
And perhaps many more that I’m not aware of.
I thank You for those who are healers —
Doctors, nurses, nurse aides, and their helpers.
Please guide them in their work
And give them Your wisdom.
Now, Lord, help me learn from this.
May I take the best care of my body,
The temple of Your Holy Spirit.
May I use my good health
To heal others with the gifts You’ve given me —
Mostly encouragement, I think!
[I also pray to have the gift
To praise You
Right in the midst of any hardship,
For You have a plan for me.]
May Your name be praised
Over all the earth!
[Note: I have tried for YEARS to write a decent poem in iambic pentameter, with no success. Then this one just HAPPENED. There’s no telling how the muse will strike.]
We will go home, we will go home at last.
No crying then, and all our sorrows past.
All will be well, our wounds and traumas done —
The world so bright, like unto twenty suns.
And then we’ll know, yet couldn’t see it here,
That all our troubles, hardships, and our fears,
Were but a flash, a drop in ocean vast —
Were only tests and trials, meant not to last.
And then we’ll see (but didn’t seem so then) —
The suff’ring woe of women and of men
Was worth it all — for what we were to gain,
Outshines, like sun, the candle of our pain.
A creeping vine
Comes through a window.
Torn screens are seen
Through another.
The walls are marked,
Ready for the wrecking crew.
Beautiful French doors
Opening to a room, long unused.
It will all be gone soon.
The oak floors,
So meticulously crafted,
And an attic — did children play there?
What dusty memories dwell in the cobwebs?
Who lived inside these walls?
Were children born here?
Did someone die here?
Was there laughter; were there tears?
The stairs of redwood,
The old laundry and kitchen,
With built-in ironing board.
The back steps, all overgrown —
And the old bathroom.
It will soon be gone,
Too costly to repair;
The land’s so expensive —
Let’s build four new houses there!
Things always change;
Nothing stays the same.
How long is forever?
Begin now to prepare.
Make sure all your endeavors
Don’t holy goals impair.
Each day must draw you closer
To destiny’s writ scroll.
Another dawn may not be sure –
The funeral bells may toll.
No one knows the answer
To when life’s course will end.
Few or many moments –
How goes the time you spend?
Will all your riches bring you
True happiness and joy?
Or do you need to look within
And search for something more?
If You did not my soul inflame,
If You did not fill lungs with breath,
If You did not my mind engage,
Sure, that would be my sorry death.
Without Your spirit, none can live,
E’en those who do not yet believe.
It’s by Your providence, I know,
There’s reason to rejoice, or grieve.
We cannot understand Your ways;
We grope about, sometimes in ruin.
Or graced, find better ways of life —
But death, the whys will then illumine.
He didn’t show up for the appointment
With my husband and me.
The lights were out,
But the door slightly ajar,
Though the latch was locked.
I thought surely
Either he or his wife
Were in serious trouble,
Perhaps dead.
I thought the worst.
Would there be a funeral?
Would we be notified?
I prayed.
What did it mean to me
If he were gone, or his wife?
The phone rang some time later —
“Sorry, I took some medicine
For a bad cold
And just woke up.
Please forgive me.”
I was so SURE that
Someone had died.
It just shows
That intuition
Can be terribly wrong.
I need to get a life.
clarakatalin 
We Do Not Know the Day or Time
One of the salient features of life is death. That is, very few of us can avoid it. There have been a few exceptions, such as Jesus Christ (although He did die before He rose again), possibly Enoch in the Old Testament (see Genesis 5:24) and, as many believe, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Jesus’ mother. And there are more like Jesus, who died, and were raised up again. But unlike Jesus, they had to die a second time. Among those are Lazarus (John 11:17-44), Tabitha (also known as Dorcas; Acts 9:36-42), and the widow’s son at Nain (Luke 7:11-15).
[See also the paragraphs added below on 5/17/2023.]
Recently the reality of death was again brought home to me with two incidents.
While driving to church one week, we saw green ribbons along part of the way, tied to telephone poles and tree trunks. Later that week we learned that there would be a motorcade along that route, so we needed to leave church right away after the Mass to get out of their way and/or not be stuck in the parking lot. We did leave right away, and as we traveled part of the route, we saw many adults and children standing along the way with signs indicating their love and appreciation for the deceased person. I was deeply moved, to tears, and wondered what kind of person would inspire this.
Of course, these days, when you want to know something, you often look it up on the Internet. So I learned that the deceased was a 50-year-old man who had been a school administrator, and much loved by those he had served, because he found ways to show how much he cared for each student, such as learning each student’s name. He had died of a pulmonary embolism, suddenly.
The other incident also happened indirectly through church. There was a white-haired dad, and his daughter (who looked about 50 years old), that we’d see at least once a week at church, mostly in the warmer months, because they would migrate to Florida for the winter. As spring began, I wondered that I hadn’t seen them return. Finally, one day I spotted the dad and greeted him after Mass. I said, “How is your daughter?” He looked sadly at me and said, “She passed away [on New Year’s Eve]. I haven’t felt able to come here for a while.” Of course, I said I was very sorry and I would pray for him. I didn’t say much more, because he didn’t look ready to continue talking.
Later I learned, from another person he had talked to, that his daughter had been (inexplicably?) losing weight. Nevertheless, she got on a airplane to visit her son. Apparently, she got through the plane flight, and after deplaning had a heart attack and died.
So, we never know when death can come. These were both relatively young people. Are we ready to meet our Maker? Have we made our peace with Him and those on earth from whom we need to ask forgiveness or whom we need to forgive?
“Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know what day your Lord is coming” (Matthew 24:42). “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come.” (Mark 13:32-33). Although these verses are apparently speaking of Jesus’ second coming, or the end of the world, they can equally apply to our own individual lives.
(Added 5/17/2023) To clarify a few things (I am not an expert, so these are mostly my ideas, understandings, or interpretations):
Regarding Enoch, mentioned in the first paragraph above and in Genesis 5:24, see also Hebrews 11:5 — “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death …”
Elijah apparently also went straight to heaven without dying. See 2 Kings 2:11-13: “… And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven … and [Elisha] saw [Elijah] no more.”
As far as Mary, Jesus’ mother, is concerned, here is a quote from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 974: “… when the course of her life was completed, she was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven …” My husband says this could just mean that she immediately went to heaven after dying, or some interpret it as her not dying. I’ll have to research that more.
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