Tools for Good Work

Recently, we’ve been living in the section of the rule commonly referred to as Benedict’s Toolbox. He offers almost parable-like aphorisms for ways we can improve our own conscious contact with God. Benedict encourages us to take any wrongful thoughts and “dash them against Christ.” He also asks us to remind ourselves daily that we’re going to die. I love that Sr. Judith Sutera asks questions for reflection in her commentary, and one of those stood out to me during this recent season of reading through our tools.

How do I imagine I will be remembered when my death does come? (Sutera p. 53)

In my own recent life, I’ve been engaged with the Soul of Aging program through The Center for Courage and Renewal. In that work, we consider “third things” in order to more deeply connect to our own soul’s needs. As we contemplated our own legacy in Soul of Aging, someone aptly shared that the first half of our life, we work on what will be in our obituary, and in the second half of life, we work on what will be shared in our eulogy.

We shared this “third thing:”

On the Death of the Beloved

John O’Donohue

Though we need to weep your loss,
You dwell in that safe place in our hearts,
Where no storm or night or pain can reach you.

Your love was like the dawn
Brightening over our lives
Awakening beneath the dark
A further adventure of colour.

The sound of your voice
Found for us
A new music
That brightened everything.

Whatever you enfolded in your gaze
Quickened in the joy of its being;
You placed smiles like flowers
On the altar of the heart.
Your mind always sparkled
With wonder at things.

Though your days here were brief,
Your spirit was live, awake, complete.

We look towards each other no longer
From the old distance of our names;
Now you dwell inside the rhythm of breath,
As close to us as we are to ourselves.

Though we cannot see you with outward eyes,
We know our soul's gaze is upon your face,
Smiling back at us from within everything
To which we bring our best refinement.

Let us not look for you only in memory,
Where we would grow lonely without you.
You would want us to find you in presence,
Beside us when beauty brightens,
When kindness glows
And music echoes eternal tones.

When orchids brighten the earth,
Darkest winter has turned to spring;
May this dark grief flower with hope
In every heart that loves you.

May you continue to inspire us:

To enter each day with a generous heart.
To serve the call of courage and love
Until we see your beautiful face again
In that land where there is no more separation,
Where all tears will be wiped from our mind,
And where we will never lose you again.

As you read this “third thing,” what does your soul say to you about your own relationship with God, your neighbor, and yourself?