There are
times when Holy Mystery manifests itself to us.
Dying is one of those times. And interestingly, the
metaphor of death or dying often describes the
entry of
Holy Presence - into our midst -
beyond the veil of normal seeing. As if one had happened upon a
boundary between the world of sense and the
world of spirit:
This story was told to me by a witness, whose veracity I can vouch for. She sat behind me in a seminar a few years ago, and related the events within days of their occurrence. Some months later, via email, she assured me that my recollection of her story was accurate. It is a very simple story.
Yet profound.
My
source, a social worker employed by a home hospice, coordinates chaplaincy visits for individuals receiving hospice care at home. The hospice serves
anyone within a county-wide area, who is dying at home. Thus, nothing out of the ordinary was to be expected, when she went to the home of a dying patient, along with her supervisor -
a man unknown to the patient.
As soon as she introduced her supervisor, the patient immediately said to him:
I didn't know that you knew ____." And her supervisor's response was:
How do you know that I knew ____? (
Knew.... because ____ was
dead.)
And the patient answered:
Well, he's sitting right there! (pointing to thin air)
And he just told me.
Now that is the story.
Make of it what you will.....
But the story is true: My source is entirely credible.
Something there is - which is way beyond our ken. Something which the dying often give witness to. Which spiritual traditions and sacred writings give witness to. Something which manifests itself within holy individuals; and I have met some. Something which can break through normal events - so they
shine with mysterious translucence - as if a veil were momentarily lifted, as if one could see from
one world into
another Reality... one which transcends our world entirely or marks it as mysteriously shot through with holiness.
