Then
Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into thy hands I commit my
spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. St. Luke 23:46
Several of the Fifteen Os also make
mention of a particular aspect of discipleship that was especially important in
St. Bridget’s time, ending life in faith and trust, having what Jeremy Taylor
famously described as “a holy dying.” As
she meditates upon the end of Jesus’ life, St. Bridget is also inviting us, as
does the final stanza of one of the Victorian passion hymns, to “Learn of Jesus
Christ to die[1]”
In her concern with a holy death, in part St.
Bridget reflects the reality of her times.
She was surrounded by people, all of them baptized Christians, who died
in unexpected ways every day. An
epidemic struck a village, an army laid siege to a town, a fire swept through a
city, and thousands would die. People
lived perilous lives, and unlike the reality in the Western world today, there
were very few means of effectively blunting the pain, so that most people were
conscious and fully aware of death’s approach.
