A Time to Die
Monks on the Threshold of Eternal Life
by Nicolas Diat
Foreword by Cardinal Robert Sarah
Behind monastery walls, men of God spend their lives preparing for the passage of death. Best-selling French author Nicolas Diat set out to find what their deaths can reveal about the greatest mystery faced by everyone-the end of life.
How to die? How to respond to our fear of death? To answer these and other questions, Diat travelled to eight European monasteries including Solesmes Abbey and the Grande Chartreuse. Through extraordinary interviews with monks, he learned that their death experiences are varied and unique, with elements of peace, pain, humility, sorrow, and joy.
These monks have the same fears, torments, and sorrows as everyone else, Diat discovered. What is exemplary about them is their humility and simplicity. When death approaches, and its hand reveals its strength, they are like happy and nave children who wait with impatience to open a gift. They have complete confidence in the mercy of God.
"In reading A Time to Die, we better understand that death is the most important act of earthly existence. All life is made to explode, to go farther, to merge with Life, with God. I am infinitely thankful to Nicolas Diat for having brought us for a moment before the mystery of death, and I recommend to all the reading of this wonderful book."
- Cardinal Robert Sarah, from the Foreword
"Diat reminds us that death should not be something feared, but welcomed and embraced with confident serenity."
- Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, Author, Behold the Man: A Catholic Vision of Male Spirituality
"This book moved me very deeply. I felt I was sitting in on some very intimate moments in the lives of monks on the brink of death, meeting the terrifying mystery of death through the holiness of men whose lives are totally focused on the reality of a love that is stronger than death."
- Mother Dolores Hart, O.S.B., Author, The Ear of the Heart
"These true stories help us realize that death is an intensely personal moment. Enjoy the great gift of spiritually 'being at the bedside' of these holy men facing death, and prayerfully allow the Holy Spirit to reach into your own heart with a renewed sense of hope in the glory that is to come!"
- Mother M. Assumpta Long, O.P., Prioress General, Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist
"This is a work written with singular beauty that is not lost in translation. The serenity on each page is an elegant rebuke to a Culture of Death, whose chief irony is that it does not know how to die well."
- Fr. George Rutler, Author, Calm in Chaos
| Description | A Time to Die Monks on the Threshold of Eternal Life by Nicolas Diat Foreword by Cardinal Robert Sarah Behind monastery walls, men of God spend their lives preparing for the passage of death. Best-selling French author Nicolas Diat set out to find what their deaths can reveal about the greatest mystery faced by everyone-the end of life. How to die? How to respond to our fear of death? To answer these and other questions, Diat travelled to eight European monasteries including Solesmes Abbey and the Grande Chartreuse. Through extraordinary interviews with monks, he learned that their death experiences are varied and unique, with elements of peace, pain, humility, sorrow, and joy. These monks have the same fears, torments, and sorrows as everyone else, Diat discovered. What is exemplary about them is their humility and simplicity. When death approaches, and its hand reveals its strength, they are like happy and nave children who wait with impatience to open a gift. They have complete confidence in the mercy of God. "In reading A Time to Die, we better understand that death is the most important act of earthly existence. All life is made to explode, to go farther, to merge with Life, with God. I am infinitely thankful to Nicolas Diat for having brought us for a moment before the mystery of death, and I recommend to all the reading of this wonderful book." "Diat reminds us that death should not be something feared, but welcomed and embraced with confident serenity." "This book moved me very deeply. I felt I was sitting in on some very intimate moments in the lives of monks on the brink of death, meeting the terrifying mystery of death through the holiness of men whose lives are totally focused on the reality of a love that is stronger than death." "These true stories help us realize that death is an intensely personal moment. Enjoy the great gift of spiritually 'being at the bedside' of these holy men facing death, and prayerfully allow the Holy Spirit to reach into your own heart with a renewed sense of hope in the glory that is to come!" "This is a work written with singular beauty that is not lost in translation. The serenity on each page is an elegant rebuke to a Culture of Death, whose chief irony is that it does not know how to die well." |
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