I just met a woman who works with old nuns. She is a medical officer and serves a group of aging women who live in a closed order. This means the convent they live in (think ‘Sister Act’) is not taking on any new novices. It will cease to exist when the old nuns die.

We were both braving the wild conditions in the surf before the cyclone hit. Turns out that the waves know nothing of the news, and the water was moving fast, but warm and clear and clean.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” she said.

“These old nuns, in their nineties. Do they die gracefully, at peace and secure in their relationship with God, or…?”

She answered before I finished. “Most are very afraid,” she said, and then added, “Some die gracefully and are at peace, must mostly, they fear death.”