Love beyond death
“It is possible to have intimate relationships with loved ones who have died. Death sometimes deepens the intimacy. . . .Knowing this experience allows me to live from the deep belief that I have love to offer to people, not only here, but also beyond my short, little life. I am a human being who was loved by God before I was born and whom God will love after I die. This brief lifetime is my opportunity to receive love, deepen love, grow in love, and give love. When I die, love continues to be active, and from full communion with God, I am present by love to those I leave behind.”—Henri Nouwen in You Are the Beloved (Convergent Books 2017).
Nouwen tells us one of the most comforting thoughts about death I know. He confirms our and other people’s experience that we still stay in intimate relationships with loved ones who have died. I have experienced the love of friends who have died, but especially continue to receive my grandparents’ love who have departed this life. Then Nouwen turns it around and tells us that we will also be able to do the same. We can continue our love with others we love after we die. Love is the only thing we leave on this earth, and love is the only thing we take with us when we die. So we continue to love others after we die. This concept makes our short time on this earth even more meaningful. We can continue to support and love others after death. I believe this, since I have experienced love from my grandparents after they died. Now I realize that I am not leaving those I love after death, but simply continuing my love for them. Being able to carry on our close relationship takes away much of the fear of separation after death.
These two pictures of my grandmother with her sisters, and my grandfather, are fading, but never their love.
Joanna Seibert joannaseibert.com
