Dear readers,
The first 2017 issue of COLUMBA again contains various contributions dealing with dying and death. These are not pleasant subjects, but they are realities no human being can avoid. That is why it is good to engage with them.
Archbishop Ludwig Schick takes up the phrase “friend instead of stranger” and applies it to dying and death: what is foreign unsettles us and makes us afraid, but what becomes familiar can become more bearable. He recalls Saint Francis, who speaks in his Canticle of the Creatures of “Sister Death”.
Not everyone will immediately be able to sing or pray in that spirit. But perhaps those words can help some readers slowly become more familiar with dying and death. Palliative care and hospice work provide important support in this process. COLUMBA also wants, in 2017, to encourage reflection on dying and death.
In this way, fear of one’s own death can be softened, and we can also deal better with sick and dying relatives and fellow human beings.
Dr. Ludwig Schick
