Meditating On Death Is Critical To A Good Life

No Christian, one hopes, would argue that Fr. Hamel did not die well. Not only did he die a martyr for the Catholic Faith, murdered by Muslim extremists; he courageously resisted and labeled their diabolic deeds what they truly are: satanic. The Jesuit magazine America celebrated him as “Europe’s first 21st-century martyr,” while Pope Francis, in a September 2016 morning meditation, described him as “part of this chain of martyrs,” a “good, meek man of brotherhood.” Yet in the aftermath of his death, journalists and biographers discovered that Fr. Hamel had also lived a good life, one of quiet, humble service, exemplifying a servant’s heart.