Letter from Jean Vanier - September 2007

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At present I am in the monastery at Orval: a gentle time of quiet, of peace, of prayerfulness. A time to assimilate all that I have lived these last few months and particularly Barbara’s death. I still have difficulty realising that she has gone. Bill Clarke was able to be with her a day before she died. She was so present at the Eucharist he celebrated in her hospital room. It was a real gift for her that he was able to be with her. For me, I had the grace of bein g with her, holding her hand, during her last two hours. She opened her eyes, looked at me, we prayed, her breathing and her heart stopped. Her departure was gentle and peaceful; she left without a groan, without a murmur, no word of complaint, no apparent agony; a falling asleep as a little child in the arms of God. Her last breath was for Bill when he arrived to say mass a second time. Barbara died as she had lived, humbly and silently.

PUB-0709-LettreDeJeanVanier-EN - 18,55 Ko