Lighting a candle is somewhat like the beginning of life. If that is true, then perhaps extinguishing a candle is like the ending of life. But death may not be the end of us. We live on in the memories of friends and loved ones....

In his book, Facing Death, Averil Stedeford recounts the following story about a woman who was diagnosed with a terminal illness: Mrs. N. was a very particular housewife who felt she should clean her home every day. She did not entertain often, for it was such an effort; everything had to be...

Source of life and death, ground of all being, Spirit of our spirits, whose we are in life and in death—Life itself is the great mystery and death a part of it. In truth we know not the one nor the other. We live and die in the mystery of being from moment to moment till at the end we merge with...

Let us rejoice for the families who have gathered this Thanksgiving to express their thanks and to celebrate the bounty of their lives. Let us join together in support of those whose families are far away, with distances in many forms. Let us hold one another in gentle reverence this holiday of...

"Dukkha," they say. The Buddhists say, "All is dukkha." It is hard to translate, they tell us. It means literally "suffering" but the feeling of dukkha is closer to impermanence. The fact of impermanence is central to the Buddhist path to nirvana, enlightenment. Dukkha. All is impermanence....

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord keep all those whom you love, whether here or in some other place. May God be your companion and you be God's friend, as you walk together through all the days of your life; and at the journey's end, may you find the welcome of God's love. It keeps us all.

Our Subaru Forester was sliding sideways down Interstate 80 at fifty miles per hour. My wife, Nan, had gingerly switched to the left-hand lane to avoid a truck that was overturned on the right shoulder, but no amount of experience, skill, or caution could overcome our car’s mass and momentum on a...

Holy One, We are on our knees In awe and supplication For we have remembered the incomprehensible value Of every human life. We have heard the thrum of helicopter blades And wailing sirens. We have smelled the ash and smoke....

"I am absurdly fearful, and various omens have combined to give me a dark feeling. I am become indeed a miserable coward, for the sake of Angelino. I fear heat and cold, fear the voyage, fear biting poverty....

"The ship struck at ten minutes after four A.M., and all hands, being mostly in their nightclothes, made haste to the forecastle, the water coming in at once. There they remained; the passengers in the forecastle, the crew above it, doing what they could. Every wave lifted the forecastle roof and...

“Her specter haunted all who knew her, and many who did not. Henry James, born in New York in 1843, stood beside his father on a Hudson River excursion boat and heard Washington Irving tell that Margaret Fuller had been drowned the day before. Even at the age of seven this small boy was resolved...

For this guided meditation, I invite you to get comfortable in your seat. Close your eyes, if you like, and take a deep breath. And another. Now, imagine that your death is a person. What does this person look like? Is the person angry and cruel, or laughing and kind? Does this person attract or...

I. THE CYNIC I was the town cynic whose life was choked out By a hidden disease of the heart That I knew was there in my chest But never told. And I carried it around with me And quoted verses to the people I met About the vanity and absurdity of it all And made them weep. If only they could have...

Every year, the same conundrum: How do we find our way into Easter when, for us, the most important part about Jesus of Nazareth is his teachings, rather than his death? Like many traditional holidays, it must have some meaning to us beyond its commercial trappings. But what is that meaning,...