Here on the Way to There: A Catholic Perspective on Dying and What Follows

Having just lost (though not really) a great friend and mentor two weeks ago Sunday, I was desperately looking for consolation in my grief. I found this book in a near by bookstore convinced that my friend had herself gifted me with it. Because her passing was very sudden and shocking, the first part of the book did not call out to me but the parts on what happens afterward were immensely consoling. The quote by Karl Rahner alone is worth the price of the book and its found on p.129. A beautiful and compassionate gift to all believe.

I was extremely pleased with the book I purchased. It was more than I expected for the price. Thank you.

I sat down on Friday night, figuring to spend most of the weekend "working through" Here on the Way to There. I finished before I had lunch on Saturday. It was not exactly in one sitting, but i read the book through in one "go" as it were, following its points and even anticipating some of it, but most of all, appreciating, deeply feeling the truth and gentility in what it said. This book is so very much like Shannon's other writings and his public addresses in tone and pace that you can actually hear his voice in the words. The same mix of deep intellect, and easy understanding, putting next to each other Milton, Joyce, the Doctors of the Church, and quotes from your aunt! and they all fit and flow and create a "seamless garment" that fits so comfortably. I was very impressed ,and very moved by many of the things that Shannon said. Let me refer to some of them. The idea of passion as something that is endured, or suffered. Yes, that is exactly what passion is, in any of its forms, and to think of dying as a passion is something that never occurred to me, no matter how many times "The Passion of Jesus" ran through my ears (page 7). The necessity of "the person... to forgive himself or herself and open the depths of his or her heart to God" is something that I have seen in those I have seen die (page 9). It never occurred to me that "death is ....something that we do....an action." (page 13) but of course it is. It is something that takes all our concentration. And that is why death is often precedes by more than a week the cessation of biological functions. Shannon says "In death we at last cease to live the illusion of a separate, self-centered existence and realize that our life is -- and always has been -- lived with God in Christ and without sisters and brothers ( page 14)." And that is precisely why suicide is not an option, it seems to me, because suicide is a self-centered, self-absorbed act. What we want, what we think we need, a kind of ultimate self-centered existence. The fact that "you cannot see your own face.... The reflection of your face is not your face....." (page 15) is very much like that painting of a pipe by Magritte that is labeled "This is not a pipe." It never occurred to me. And so, the "Beatific" vision is not only seeing and recognizing the face of God, it is also seeing and recognizing our own face! As the Rabbi you tell of did not at first recognize his name when it was read at the gate of Heaven. And so on, and so on, there are just too many things I want to say about the book, too many passages I want to talk about for me to go over them all here. Fr. Shannon's book is a comfort and a blessing, beyond words.

Thoughtful, easy to understand, relevant to today's everyday life in America. This book, written by a theologian is a wonderful book for 'all' Christians and non-Christians alike.

Shannon, a priest and professor emeritus in the religions studies department at a Nazareth College, makes an important point in his introduction that informs much of what follows. He offers dictionary definitions for "death" and "dying," each dealing with endings. He then gives the Christian definitions: "Death is the beginning of life, life at its best, at its most real" and dying is "to start living in a most wondrous way." He also takes care to explore death and dying as two different experiences that reflect continuity (existence continues after death) and discontinuity (existence after death is radically different from existence before death.) Against that background, Shannon addresses the form of life after death, comparing it to resurrection (Jesus) not resuscitation (Lazarus) and posits that the "the resurrection of the body and life everlasting" expressed in the Creed are experienced at the end of each person's mortal experience, "which, for that person, is the end of time." These are but a few examples of the richness Shannon brings to this imminently readable and thought-provoking work. Other topics include funeral rites and organ donation, diminishments of old age with practical advice on living wills, hospice care, and medical decisions. As one would expect, the author also looks at questions of hell, and purgatory, limbo, and reincarnation. The final section, What We Believe about Heaven, tackles questions about heaven as a family reunion, a garden of delight, the Garden of Eden, and the Glorious Royal City. The book closes with answers to frequently asked questions about heaven, nearly 100 notes, and an index.