A man condemned to death asks for a priest next to him. He wants the comfort of human company, but also the consolation of faith
by B. Capparoni
At the beginning of last September we read a news story coming from Texas (USA). A death row inmate, John Ramirez, obtained a stay of execution from the American Supreme Court against the opinion of the Texas justice system, because the supreme judges deemed his request to die with a priest beside him admissible; instead the Texan judge had prohibited it for "safety" reasons.
I will not go into the criminal story of this condemned man. But he struck me, his request not to die alone aroused pity in me. I found it right, natural, to be welcomed with that compassion that surpasses any judgment on the evil committed and the punishment established.
My thoughts then turned to the many, too many, who in these two years of the pandemic have passed through the door of death alone in our hospitals, without the comfort of a dear presence. Did the precautions to avoid infections have to go to that extreme? It's difficult to answer this question. We know that many health workers have personally taken on this last closeness to the dying. An infinite thank you goes to them!
To us of the Pious Union the request of the condemned Texan resonates with particular force, because every day we ask Saint Joseph for the gift of a "good" death "for the dying of this day". We know well, and Saint Paul confirms it, that death has a tremendous "sting" (see 1 Cor 15, 55), but it would be even more cruel if it were to be faced alone. Therefore what we ask every day with the short prayer left to us by Saint Luigi Guanella is to pass through the arduous door of death, accompanied by the comfort of company.
Everyone hopes to have the people closest to them next to them at that moment. The Texas prisoner did not limit himself to this; he wanted a priest next to him, to remind him of the destination where he is about to land and to pray to God with him and for him. This is precisely what the Church proposes: «The dying will be given attention and care to help them live their last moments with dignity and peace. They will be supported by the prayers of their relatives. They will ensure that the sick receive in due time the sacraments which prepare them for the encounter with the living God" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2299).
The Church is a mother and places herself next to every child in the supreme moment of life with this touching wish: «Depart, Christian soul, from this world, in the name of God the almighty Father who created you, in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, who died for you on the cross, in the name of the Holy Spirit, who was given to you as a gift; May your home today be in the peace of holy Jerusalem, with the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with Saint Joseph, with all the angels and saints."
(Ritual of the sick). What comfort emanates from these words! May this be the "good" death that we ask of Saint Joseph every day.