I've spoken before in this forum about the Hospice in this community. It's been operating for quite some time now, but only recently have I had occasion to interact. From time to time, I visit with some of the residents, especially when they are among the parishioners who pray with us in this Christian community, but from time to time, I do visit at the Hospice for other reasons.
This week, at the invitation of the staff, I asked a friend to accompany me as we celebrated a Mass with the residents who are currently there. This is the second time we've done this, and like all other occasions when we enter those doors, the experience is as rewarding if not more so for us than it is for the residents.
Because those who are resident there are facing some serious questions about life and life hereafter, they have little if any time for small talk, but this is also a place of peace: a place where the worries of the outside world can be left behind, perhaps because when one is resident at a hospice, the worries of the world pale by comparison with the truths about coming to peace with others.
I once heard an elderly man describe his perception about the end of earthly life not so much as something to be feared, as a moment for which we wait, for which we have been waiting our entire lives. This is not something to be afraid of, but rather something to be celebrated. What a wonderful lesson for the head and the heart.
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