Friday, September 11, 2009

The Humility of Dead People

Dead people do not grasp at their possessions, including their own beauty of form. They surrender to whoever or whatever happens along. But they also entrust themselves to those they gave themselves to in their earthly life. Hopefully their loved ones make sure their bodies and possessions are handled respectfully. The Orthodox are the most loving to their dead that I have ever experienced. The blessings and venerations of the body as well as the prayers for the departed soul envelop the person in protective love that I am sure benefits them most dearly. Even though Isaac did not have an Orthodox funeral or burial, I have the clothes they brought him to me in in a basket, and this summer I purchased a burial shroud at Holy Archangels Monastery in Kendalia which now covers it. This is placed on the floor before our home icon corner. Sorry this picture doesn't show the floor and isn't rotated, but it includes the first icon that touched me most deeply when I was inquiring into Orthodoxy. I have shared before how this icon of the little boy and his guardian angel introduced me first hand to what a "window to heaven" is.

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