What We Can Learn About Death From Around The World
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(OPINION) During 2025, Franciscans around the globe — vowed priests, brothers and sisters, as well as lay people with a Franciscan heart — have celebrated the 800th anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of Creation, also known as the Canticle of the Creatures.
Ostensibly a celebration of the beauty of our world with its praise of sun, moon, wind, water and more, St. Francis ended this song on quite a somber note when he added a final stanza as he was suffering from his last illness in 1226:
Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death
from whom no one living can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin.
Blessed are those whom death will find in Your most holy will,
for the second death shall do them no harm.
Overall, human beings don’t like to think about death. As Halloween approaches, though — and November being the month of All Souls in the Catholic Church — such thoughts occur more frequently this time of year.
Thoughts about a concept which both fascinates many and generates a good deal of fear.
I admit: I’ve been thinking a lot about death lately, after my cardiologist dropped a bomb on me during a check-up in September. But, even before that, I was curious about what happens when we die, since a few tragic and unusual deaths involving relatives and acquaintances have impacted the course of my life.
A comedian’s journey through death and dying
This curiosity led me to a two-part documentary titled “Billy Connolly’s Big Send Off.” It was originally released in 2014 and is rather difficult to find these days, because I don’t think it was ever made available on DVD — at least, not in the States. It is, nonetheless, a broad-ranging view of death, funerals and religious customs that combine to amuse and befuddle me, as well as educate and stir my emotions.
Among the more befuddling aspects: funerals are a $21 billion a year industry (at the time of the program’s production) and how people are often taken advantage of when a loved one dies. The average American funeral costs $10,000, especially when what are essentially salesmen promoting upscale caskets and packages to a grieving widow using phrases like, “He would’ve loved this,” or “If you really love him, this is the thing to do…”
Zombie-proof coffins and “BereaveMints” added a lighter touch to a tour of a funeral directors’ convention.
A valid observation made by one of those interviewed in the program pointed out how the dead have always been susceptible to the economics of the living. If the demand for real estate for housing is on the rise, as an example, that leaves less space for cemeteries, so the price of burial plots increase, too.
Along the same lines, the documentary made clear how the graveyard says more about living people than it does about dead people because the living are the ones who spend the money and design elaborate monuments to those who have passed.
Viewing the documentary, I picked up numerous tidbits of wisdom, such as, “If you treat death as part of the everyday, you stop worrying about it.”
When people are reminded they’re going to die, they are twice as likely to believe in life after death, where they might have shunned such notions prior to that time — another assertion raised in the course of exploring this topic.
What different faiths teach about mortality
The way Buddhists view death comforted me: when they see roadkill, for instance, they reason, “That is the way of all things, and it’ll be the way with me. All things pass.”
While some people have no plans to die — proclaiming, “I’m immortal!” — others have the well-grounded attitude that no one can escape death, and death is a great equalizer.
The director of a Muslim funeral home discounted the need to worry about what comes after death with the statement, “If you’re a good person and you’ve done everything right in life, then that’s what counts.”
Still another, “You can’t do anything about death, but you can do a lot about life.”
Many cultures and faith traditions celebrate the life of those who have passed with parties, wakes, laughter — which is a fantastic way to be remembered, as the documentary noted. Some religions hold that the dead are always with us and, at times like Dia de los Muertos — the Day of the Dead — they can cross over and visit their loved ones still on earth.
Even more profound was the declaration, “You only die the last time someone speaks your name.”
While questions about what happens after death could not really be answered by those interviewed — except with speculation — Connolly shared this sublime insight with the aging and those facing the end of life due to other causes:
“Don’t die until you die.
Don’t be dead first and then die.
You’re alive until the very last second.”
It’s advice I’ve taken to heart as I deal with my own mortality.
This piece was originally published by FaVs News.
Julie A. Ferraro is a communications professional who works extensively with Catholic religious communities. Originally from South Bend, Indiana, she is a mother and grandmother. She has been a journalist for more than 35 years and continues her studies of both Benedictine and Franciscan spirituality.