Brother Richard

will be the one who will gently issue us into the presence of divine love.

And so the meditator sits with their own death, not as something to be afraid of, but as a friendship to be cultivated.

We would not know the richness of life

if we did not know that death awaits us.

This does not mean that we do not mourn or grieve those who pass.

We mourn and grieve those who have passed, but we do not say goodbye.

In our tradition, we can only ever say, until we meet again.

But for now, reflecting on these words of Francis, we can hold as a meditative intention for ourselves the awareness of death leading to the fullness of life.

When I rise in the morning, I can begin with gratitude for another day.

And I can ask myself, how should I live this day so that if Sister Death came calling tonight, I would be ready to go.

And I would have shown those that I love that I truly love them

How can I ensure that I am ready to go knowing that I have brought my gifts to the earth and have shared them with those in need?

How can I be sure that I am ready to go when I am not clinging to all that I think of as my own?

recognizing that I will leave everything behind me, that there is nothing that I currently think of as mine that will travel with me other than the compassion and the love that I have generated in this world.

at the very end of his life, his last words, the words we Franciscans commemorate every year as we celebrate his passing.

St.

Francis said simply, welcome my sister death.

As we meditate on these words,

Let us pray that day by day, moment by moment, we will enter into ever greater realms of freedom, ever deeper realms of love, ever deeper compassion, so that when our time comes, we too may be able to say, welcome, Sister Death.

Breathing in, I remember the first breath.