A Time to Die

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Best-selling French author Nicolas Diat approaches subtly but frankly the mystery of a major question for all - the end of life - and reveals the profound and moving insights on death from monks in monasteries around Europe. How to die? How to respond to our fears of death? Behind monastery walls, men of God spend their lives preparing for the great passage. Can they help us understand the suffering, fear, pain, courage and solitude of the final moments? From the monasteries of Cîteaux to Lagrasse, from the Grande Chartreuse to Solesmes, Diat has collected the wisdom of monks about the end of their lives. Through extraordinary interviews with monks in eight monasteries, as close as possible to the "sons of silence", we learn that their death experiences are varied and unique, with elements of peace, pain, humility, sorrow and joy. These monks are no different than us, as they have the same fears, torments and sorrows. What is exemplary about the monks is their humility and simplicity. When death approaches, and its hand reveals its strength, they are like happy and naïve children who wait with impatience to open a gift. They have no doubts about the fulfillment of the promise of Christ.