When the Body Can No Longer Support Life

There were two deaths of persons either close to the community or close to one of the sisters last week. Two funerals to attend this week, one on Wednesday the other on Thursday. Then to top this off, one of our sisters found out 3 weeks later about the passing of her god-father.

The death of someone close to us, seems to bring into our conscious awareness our own fragile existence and impermanence.

In Dallas I took an apologetics and a pastoral care class under Will Spong (the brother of the former Bp. of Newark, NJ -- Bp. John Shelby Spong)

Will was also a priest. Like Andrew he lived under the shadow of his more famous brother. But he was an amazing man. Will's Bio

I don't remember which class it was, but in one of the two classes Will asked us: "What caused Jesus' death?" Answers flew around the room: "He was a threat to the established order. In a way he caused his own death by the choices he made." "He was setup by the chief priests, the Jews, Pilot and sentenced to crucifixion." "Being crucified."

None of these answers satisfied Will and he pressed us further.

Finally I said, "He died from asphyxiation."

BINGO! That was the answer he was looking for, the specific cause of death.

Asphyxiation was the eventual cause of death for someone hanging on a cross. It's a slow death. When your arms are outstretched and over your head, your lungs are unable to function properly. (If you'd like to try it, see how long you can hold your arms outstretched and slightly above your head. In five minutes or less you'll be agony.) That's why they nailed the feet or put them on a platform. The instinct to live caused the crucified to push up so they could breathe again. Talk about cruel. Sometimes they could live for days until their strength finally gave out and they could no longer push themselves up, and they suffocated.

But I've strayed from my original reason for writing this post. There was something I got from that course that will be with me the rest of my life. It is what finally helped me get over my fears of death (whether my own or someone close to me).

Will told us: "Death is what happens when the body can no longer support life."

It was such a revelation in my life. This was the first time I'd ever heard someone talk about death as something other than "an ending to/of life." Talk about finding comfort in that! When my mother died from cancer later the year, Will's words helped me be with her, and totally present to her, and comfort her through her last week.

Also one of Will's favorite quotes was from the great novelist, Nikos Kazantzakis—his novel Zorba the Greek—

’Life is what you do when you’re waiting to die,’

I make no claims as to what happens to life after that moment. I do not profess to know with certainty. But this I do know...

I'm doing life while waiting to die. And I find comfort in understanding that when death comes it will not be an end of life, it will only be my body no longer able to sustain my life.