Fr Jim Cogley
There are basically two ways we can live life, either with hands that are closed or or hands that are open. As we enter this world we do so with closed fists, ready to grasp, to hold and to control. Not long after we die our hands open out fully as if to make a gesture of letting go and surrender. The spiritual journey is all about opening out and letting go. It is not even about accumulating spiritual brownie points for our attempts to live a virtuous life and thereby earn a place in Heaven. It is those who have lived best with open hands who when it comes to die seem to have the easiest passage, they seem most ready to receive. Those who have lived a life of holding on often find it most difficult to let go in death. When the final letting go or surrender becomes inevitable it often accompanied by an overwhelming sadness that it should have taken place so much earlier in life, and what was the point of holding on so much.