They Shall Be Comforted

For Those Who Grieve and Hope

Rev. Joseph T. Nolan

Reviews

"What distinguishes this book from many written for the comfort of people dealing with grief is a kind of un-intrusive compassion, an honesty that refuses to skate over the really hard questions. The scholarship and the fruits of long experience, serve to enhance the gift of what I can but call courtesy: respect for the strangeness of grief, a gift to be accepted in whatever way and degree it is needed."

Rosemary Luling Haughton
Wellspring House

"Death is not an easy topic to address. Yet, Fr. Nolan shows no fear in speaking directly to and about this mystery, as well as gathering the wisdom of great poets and thinkers who also share a vision of hope. A fine volume for all pastoral ministers."

Robert F. Morneau
Auxiliary Bishop of Green Bay

"The fruit of many years of prayer, reading, and preaching on death, dying, and life after death, I value this practical collection for its brief, insightful meditations and for its suggested prayers that may be incorporated into the Funeral Liturgy and Burial Rite."

Fr. William Bergen, S.J.
Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola, New York City

"No sentimental, saccharin musings here, rather, wisdom from down the centuries and across human cultures in a respectfully ecumenical style. It wil be useful to those whose grief at the loss of a loved one, or whose fear of their own inevitable death, is made the more painful by skepticism concerning a promised afterlife. Fr. Nolan's wholesome attitude toward the mystery of death will awaken in readers a peaceful anticipation of the journey from life to Life."

Father Richard G. Rento, STL
Diocese of Paterson

"They Shall Be Comforted is a book for those concerned with death, a recent death of a relative or friend, or one's own impending death. A pastor will want to keep this book handy, not only for his personal meditation or contemplation, but also for his counsel to those who are finding death a heavy cross. I think, as well, a person finding the prospect of death very difficult may benefit in spending time with this book."

William A. Hughes
Bishop Emeritus of Covington

Introduction

Few people think about death, and many have trouble believing in resurrection. I offer these words to the living, for meditation, prayer, and consolation, because they are true. They reflect the truth of what a Christian believes of Jesus Christ and God's word. These subjects call for a language that not only communicates but brings us into communion with Truth. We do not need mystifying words to speak of the great Mysteries, but we do need poetry, the language of metaphor. We need something easier to grasp than the writing of many theologians.

For instance, there is the valuable book, A History of Heaven, by Jeffrey Burton Russell (Princeton University Press, 1997). It is really not a history but a profound meditation on what the teachers of the church, the mystics, and the poet Dante have said about eternal life. For those who can stay with scholarship, it is profoundly satisfying, even exciting. Another author, Caroline Walker Bynum, wrote The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity 200-1336 (Columbia University Press, 1995). This, too, is helpful to those who can take it. This present book, or collection, seeks to fulfill a pastoral or popular need, and is indebted to scholars like these. And many others.

People have thought about death but often in fearful ways. I wish to go beyond this; some of the words that follow, not all mine, should move us like great music. Some would say it all comes down to faith, but faith is illumined by words. For instance, after finishing this manuscript, I found this couplet by the seventeenth-century German mystic Angelus Silesius:

Love like a magnet is, it draws me into God,
And what is greater still, it pulls God into death.

"Love pulls God into death." Is the mystic saying that God's grace will suffice in the time of our passion? Yes, but more. Is he not also saying that God enters the passion of our lives in the Incarnation, confronts it in the person of Jesus, and gives us hope? Yes, but still more. When people find it difficult to believe in God, the starting point is often creation. Cosmic power is everywhere; the usual name we give to this power is God. When creation becomes conscious--in us, in the human--we ask the deepest question: is this power a personal love? The whole story of Israel and Jesus affirms that it is. But then another question, which Angelus Silesius answers: can this power we know as love overcome "the last of the evils which is death"? The resurrection of Jesus, and his presence in us, is the answer.

We all need to think of these things, not only because we are mortal, but because death usually comes unexpectedly and we need to say good bye to those we have loved with proper rituals and the right words. People who have been part of our lives should be remembered with gratitude. And, for believers, faith should be strengthened. It's also true that time hangs heavily upon those who wait upon death (God's moment), in a hospital or hospice, or at home. It is a time when we can pray, read parts of the Bible (especially some of the psalms), and perhaps some of the prayers and reflections in this book. The lovely words of St. Augustine ("Watch thou, dear Lord, with those who wake, or watch, or weep tonight, and give thine angels and saints charge over those who sleep") best express what I mean. The oft quoted words of Cardinal Newman (page 114), help us to have faith when life itself seems senseless or at least without direction. The Prayer of Commendation (page 126) breathes a confident hope, and may be recited when someone is about to leave us for God. Many of the reflections are from my Easter sermons or funeral homilies or lectures on the resurrection.

Much of this book is addressed to believers in the Christian faith--Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox. but "death is the unexceptional sentence passed on everyone," and I hope that other believers, humanists, and those who arrange secular memorials may also find passages that will be helpful. Whatever our approach to death--and to God--we are right to treat the moment with dignity, and to appreciate, even to celebrate, the gift of a person's life.

Rev. Joseph T. Nolan
Boston College
August 15, 1998

Purchasing Information:

Please send a check for $10 plus $2 shipping and handling (for each book ordered) with your book request to:

Rev. Joseph T. Nolan
Theology Dept.
Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467