Category Archives: Death

Memento Mori

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

During Ash Wednesday services, the priest or minister makes a cross of ashes on the participant’s forehead and says, “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” We begin the Lenten journey, in other words, by memento mori (Latin … Continue reading →

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The Death of a Parent

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

In January, the New Yorker website had an excellent (though rather long) article by novelist Mark Slouka on the effect that his father’s death had on him. He describes himself now as “orphaned at fifty-five, nobody’s son, trying to plot … Continue reading →

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Spiritual Journeys

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

Soul Searchers: An Anthology of Spiritual Journeys (Eerdmans, 2002), complied by freelance editor Teresa de Bertodano, is a collection of biographical, autobiographical or fictional accounts of life events that convey something of who each person was or was called to be. … Continue reading →

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Social Media Might Reduce Discomfort with Death

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Bob Ritzema

NPR host Scott Simon recently attracted considerable attention when he turned what many consider a private event into a public one.  As he sat with his mother while she was dying, Simon tweeted about her last days to his 1.3 … Continue reading →

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“I Am Enjoying Dying”

Posted on March 23, 2013 by Bob Ritzema

I recently read a eulogy of Gordon Cosby, founder of Washington D.C.’s Church of the Savior, by Jim Wallis.  Cosby died Wednesday at age 94.  I was struck by something Cosby recently said to Wallis:  “I am enjoying dying.”  What … Continue reading →

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