Christian de Cacqueray discusses death and dying with Don Paul Denizot

In Conversation sur la mort with Christian de Cacqueray, don Paul Denizot discusses openly about death. The fact that our secularized West chooses to ignore it undoubtedly causes more anguish. What if we decided to look it with open eyes? Death is part of life. It can even teach us how to live. In faith, death is not an end but an encounter with a person – Christ.

Let’s face death

In Africa, for example, death is part of life. People accept it, both mourning and celebrating it. In France, it is hidden, hushed up. We, post-moderns, we don’t want to hear about it, because we refuse to accept any boundaries, weaknesses or vulnerability. Death remains the last obstacle to our omnipotence. We refuse to think about death. Or we choose to provoke it, which is another way to avoiding it.

Death is a life lesson

Knowing that we will die can become a “pedagogy” and teach us what we need to know about life. First and foremost by taking the time to enjoy the positive moments in our lives, instead of being constantly on the go. Secondly, by being reminded that the bonds of love continue beyond death. Lastly, by insisting on the importance of dying well. Indeed, there is such a thing as a “good death”: it is one that is prepared, with access to plenty of support. Indeed, despite the suffering it entails and our limitations, great things can happen at the moment of death. Then we are able to realize that love can be stronger than death.

Death: an encounter with a Person

In dying, Christ joined us in this absurd moment of death: He transformed it, by transfiguring and overcoming it. Death and resurrection are at the heart of our faith. Christian salvation is not an idea but a person. Faced with death, Christians can feel anguish, just like everyone else, but their faith does not protect them from fear, questions, doubts or even despair. On the other hand, faith profoundly asserts the presence of the Risen Christ, who attends the believer throughout their life and comes in to meet them at the moment of death. Through Christ’s resurrection, we can be certain that love is stronger than death!

The kingdom of God is already here -and yet to come

The Christian experience a tension between two states, the “already-there” and the “yet-to-come”. In other words, they await the fulfillment of the kingdom of God, which is already in our midst now. Just because we are focused on the realities of the world to come doesn’t mean we are not living in the present fully. When we ask Mary to pray for us “now and at the hour of our death”, it shows that there are two important moments in our lives: “the hour of our death” and “now”. You have to hold both. It is not a matter of running away. Today, we can ask ourselves, “How does the kingdom of Heaven manifest itself my life, is it perceptible?”