The Last Breath

“When will he (or she) die?”

It’s a common question when hospice has been brought in and a person continues to linger. The answer is often not what people want to hear.

“We don’t know.”

Just like one can’t schedule the weather, the same is true with death.

I’ve now walked alongside enough clients during this phase to say with some confidence that there are few things one can do to exert control over this last liminal stage (unless you live in one of the seven states which allow physician assisted suicide).

Some individuals, who still have their wits about them, decline food and water in order to hurry the process.

The hospice chaplain, on more than one occasion, has asked a family I am working with, “Is there any unfinished business?”

I have also seen and heard tales of how a visit from a Chaplain, Minister or Rabbi, a Buddhist Reverend, Hindu Priest or Imam can provide just the balm needed to surrender.

There is still so much anxiety and fear around dying, for both those who are dying and also the loved ones around them. In an effort to provide an antidote to some of these fears in the form of information, I’ve reached out to wise local voices—a Rabbi, a Minister, a Buddhist Reverend, a Muslim Imam, a Hindu Priest and a Chaplain from Transitions—to draw back the curtain on the ways they minister to the dying. Perhaps you, like me, will be moved by their stories, which I’ll publish here over the next three weeks. I hope you'll join me.