death

Photo is courtesy of thevalueofsparrows.com

Situation: Thomas Merton's father is on his deathbed.

What could I make of so much suffering? There was no way for me, or for anyone else in the family, to get anything out of it. It was a raw wound for which there was no adequate relief. You had to take it, like an animal.

We were in the condition of most of the world, the condition of men without faith in the presence of war, disease, pain, starvation, plague, bombardment, death.

You just had to take it like a dumb animal.

Try to avoid it, if you could. But you must eventually reach the point where you can't avoid it any more. Take it. Try to stupefy yourself, if you like, so that it won't hurt so much. But you will always have to take some of it.

And it will all devour you in the end.