http://www.judycannato.com/index.html

Judy Cannato was an American Catholic author, retreat facilitator, and spiritual director. She died from a rare form of cancer in 2011, at the age of 62. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Cannato.

Fortunately, before her death, she gave us these encouraging words:

“[Jesus] engaged death with every bit of consciousness and freedom that were his, and what we all discovered as a result is that death—while inevitable, while altering our dreams and causing us to let go of everything—does not have the final word. There is always—always—resurrection. And what is resurrection for us, in the context of the new universe story? It is a transformation in consciousness, an experience of transcendence in which we live out of the connectedness that is our truth. As we continue to evolve in consciousness, continue to emerge as more and more capable lovers, we share in the resurrection of Christ. We not only walk in the Light, we become light for others. Even little resurrections that come after choosing to die to fear and egocentricity release the Spirit. When we engage in a lifetime of death and resurrections as Jesus did, we become ever more empowered to do the work God asks us to do.  

Life and death are a single mystery. That is what the Paschal Mystery teaches us. Death is inevitable—but so is resurrection. We can be sure that dyings will intrude upon our lives, and we may have some choice about how we can respond to their coming. We can be awake and watchful for the resurrections as well, for the creative ways that new life streams into our lives even in the midst of death. Like supernova explosions that shatter every recognizable fragment of life [and scatter elements for new stars], we are capable of transcendence, capable of never allowing death to have the final say.” 

Judy Cannato, Radical Amazement: Contemplative Lessons from Black Holes, Supernovas, and Other Wonders of the Universe (Notre Dame, IN: Sorin Books, 2006), 122.

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Judy’s words remind me of the often-quoted wedding ceremony quote: “Now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”  1 Corinthians 13:13.

What is the difference between the three? “Faith is grounded in the reality of the past; hope is looking to the reality of the future” and love is understanding and acting in the present moment. https://www.gotquestions.org/difference-faith-hope.html

Here’s today’s senryu: Life Continues On

little deaths, big deaths,

many deaths come and always

life continues on