Memento Mori (Remember Your Death)

Episode 71

Death is coming for us all... someday.  Reminders of that reality aren't hard to miss.  Think of physical limitations brought on by aging; of losing a loved one; of threats of illness or accidents.  In the end, there is no forgetting that we are mortal.  And yet trying to forget death (or more accurately, avoiding at all costs the very idea of it) is what most of us tend to prefer.  Given its inescapability, though, that might not be the wisest approach.

Chad is the Undertaker wrestling a dark opponent in this episode, as his trusty co-host, Paul "Ben" Bearer, manages ringside with a sickly, eerie voice imitation.  The two uncomfortably converse, a haunting token of Chad's challenge sitting on the table between them.  What are some unhealthy ways that we often deal with the fact of death?  How can a more regular reflection on our own death give more meaning to how we live?  What is the practice of Memento Mori, and how can we incorporate it into a Christian context?

SHOW NOTES:

Fr Schmitz talk on the Four Last Things:  The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell by Fr. Mike Schmitz - FORMED

Fr Riccardo's homily at his dad's funeral:  Fr. John Riccardo - Funeral Homily for his father John J. Riccardo - YouTube

St Francis de Sales mediation on death:   + Saints' Prayers - St. Francis de Sales - Meditation V: Of Death (saintsprayers.net)

Chad's Challenge (purchase rec):  Memento Mori Skull Statue - Seton Shrine