Streams of Mercy

A friend is dying, and as I search for ways to be a help along the way,

these words from “For the Dying” fill my mind and heart:

May death come gently toward you,

Leaving you time to make your way

Through the cold embrace of fear

To the place of inner tranquility.

May your leave-taking be gracious,

Enabling you to hold dignity

Through awkwardness and illness.

May you see the reflection

Of your life’s kindness and beauty

In all the tears that fall for you.

May you find for each one you love

A different locket of jeweled words

To be worn around the heart

To warm your absence.

May someone who knows and loves

The complex village of your heart

Be there to echo you back to yourself

And create a sure word raft

To carry you to the further shore.

May there be some beautiful surprise

Waiting for you inside death,

Something you never knew or felt,

Which with one simple touch,

Absolves you of all loneliness and loss,

As you quicken within the embrace

For which your soul was eternally made.

(from To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings, by John O’Donohue)

“In life and in death we belong to God,” we’re reminded again and again. How important it is to speak this eternal truth to each other as we journey through life together!

I give thanks for those “streams of mercy” carrying us through this life and into the life to come.

Elizabeth