Glen Hansard’s recent untimely death left fans reeling. When someone dies in their fifties, particularly if they leave a widow and young child behind, the shock is enormous.
And yet, given our human fragility, the surprising thing is not early death but how many of us manage to live well into our eighties and sometimes beyond.
Even still, many of us react to death as if it were the exception, not the rule. Something in us rebels against the unfairness of death.
I think that this is not unhealthy. Death was not part of God’s plan but came into the world as a result of sin.
Feeling shocked by death and its unfairness reflects a deep understanding that this is not how things are meant to be”
As the Catechism reminds us: “The account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms a primaeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of man. Revelation gives us the certainty of faith that the whole of human history is marked by the original fault freely committed by our first parents. (CCC 390)”
Therefore, feeling shocked by death and its unfairness reflects a deep understanding that this is not how things are meant to be.
Christ came to redeem us from the consequences of sin, but even he experienced death. So while death was not part of God’s original plan, the Church has long held to the practice of memento mori: “remember [that you have] to die”.
The Church commends this as a healthy, not morbid practice. It predates both Christianity and Judaism. The Stoic philosophers liked to meditate on death both to overcome the fear of dying and to develop gratitude. They had the concept of a good death, too. It was one faced with a certain tranquillity and equanimity.
Christianity, however, views death differently from the Stoics. Death is not the end but a transition to life lived in greater intimacy with God. This does not ‘cure’ grief. There is no cure for grief. As writer Amanda Held Opelt said, “You don’t ever lay down the burden of bereavement. Rather, you develop the muscles to carry it for the rest of your life.”
Her sister, the progressive liberal Christian writer Rachel Held Evans, died at 37 of an allergic reaction to antibiotics given for an infection. Losing her only sister was catastrophic and led Amanda Held Opelt to research grief rituals, including the old Irish practice of keening, or wailing for the dead.
No matter how long we live, we will eventually have to face death, and it is a reasonable guess that our time on earth will seem short.
Short Life
Glen Hansard wrote a song that seems eerily prescient: ‘Short Life’. It includes: “To a short life We only get so much time/At the wheel/In this short life/There’ll be no going back this time Don’t throw it away.”
One verse talks about the “golden tongue” becoming dust, an echo of the biblical idea of returning to dust after death.
Glen Hansard seems to have been a spiritual seeker. Mary Aoife and Seamus Ong were two of the many musicians who played at his funeral service. They also played at his last concert in Trinity.
On their Instagram account for Carlo Acutis Youth, these two young musicians describe telling Glen about Carlo Acutis and the shrine they have set up in their home. He had wanted to visit it but time ran out.
There has been a tendency in recent years, especially when talented musicians die, to carry out a secular form of canonisation”
They also told of making a novena to St Anthony to help them with their music. Glen Hansard subsequently rang them asking them to record a song, ‘Anthony’, with him. They ended up distributing copies of the novena to him and his entire team, which the team happily received.
The Ongs have asked people to pray for Glen Hansard, and it is vital that we do. There has been a tendency in recent years, especially when talented musicians die, to carry out a secular form of canonisation.
I always remember my mother-in-law, Lord have mercy on her, saying that she did not want anyone assuming that she had gone straight to heaven. She wanted Masses and prayers said for her. It was not just an act of humility but a sign of wisdom.
Retrofit
While it is good practice to avoid speaking ill of the dead, we are not obliged to retrofit them for a halo either.
There is no doubt that Glen Hansard had a real heart for homeless people and was a man of immense talent, but instant hagiography helps no one. We are all complex beings, a mixture of good and bad, and we all need prayers.
A death of someone we love, or even someone we admired from a distance, often leaves us shocked and bewildered. We can only pray to live life so that death, when it comes, does not have the final victory.
A file photo shows the Great Cross romenade in St Augustine, Florida. Photo: OSV News / St Augustine Catholic.
Even though unfair, death is not the end – it’s a transition
Glen Hansard’s recent untimely death left fans reeling. When someone dies in their fifties, particularly if they leave a widow and young child behind, the shock is enormous.
And yet, given our human fragility, the surprising thing is not early death but how many of us manage to live well into our eighties and sometimes beyond.
Even still, many of us react to death as if it were the exception, not the rule. Something in us rebels against the unfairness of death.
I think that this is not unhealthy. Death was not part of God’s plan but came into the world as a result of sin.
As the Catechism reminds us: “The account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms a primaeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of man. Revelation gives us the certainty of faith that the whole of human history is marked by the original fault freely committed by our first parents. (CCC 390)”
Therefore, feeling shocked by death and its unfairness reflects a deep understanding that this is not how things are meant to be.
Christ came to redeem us from the consequences of sin, but even he experienced death. So while death was not part of God’s original plan, the Church has long held to the practice of memento mori: “remember [that you have] to die”.
The Church commends this as a healthy, not morbid practice. It predates both Christianity and Judaism. The Stoic philosophers liked to meditate on death both to overcome the fear of dying and to develop gratitude. They had the concept of a good death, too. It was one faced with a certain tranquillity and equanimity.
Christianity, however, views death differently from the Stoics. Death is not the end but a transition to life lived in greater intimacy with God. This does not ‘cure’ grief. There is no cure for grief. As writer Amanda Held Opelt said, “You don’t ever lay down the burden of bereavement. Rather, you develop the muscles to carry it for the rest of your life.”
Her sister, the progressive liberal Christian writer Rachel Held Evans, died at 37 of an allergic reaction to antibiotics given for an infection. Losing her only sister was catastrophic and led Amanda Held Opelt to research grief rituals, including the old Irish practice of keening, or wailing for the dead.
No matter how long we live, we will eventually have to face death, and it is a reasonable guess that our time on earth will seem short.
Short Life
Glen Hansard wrote a song that seems eerily prescient: ‘Short Life’. It includes: “To a short life We only get so much time/At the wheel/In this short life/There’ll be no going back this time Don’t throw it away.”
One verse talks about the “golden tongue” becoming dust, an echo of the biblical idea of returning to dust after death.
Glen Hansard seems to have been a spiritual seeker. Mary Aoife and Seamus Ong were two of the many musicians who played at his funeral service. They also played at his last concert in Trinity.
On their Instagram account for Carlo Acutis Youth, these two young musicians describe telling Glen about Carlo Acutis and the shrine they have set up in their home. He had wanted to visit it but time ran out.
They also told of making a novena to St Anthony to help them with their music. Glen Hansard subsequently rang them asking them to record a song, ‘Anthony’, with him. They ended up distributing copies of the novena to him and his entire team, which the team happily received.
The Ongs have asked people to pray for Glen Hansard, and it is vital that we do. There has been a tendency in recent years, especially when talented musicians die, to carry out a secular form of canonisation.
I always remember my mother-in-law, Lord have mercy on her, saying that she did not want anyone assuming that she had gone straight to heaven. She wanted Masses and prayers said for her. It was not just an act of humility but a sign of wisdom.
Retrofit
While it is good practice to avoid speaking ill of the dead, we are not obliged to retrofit them for a halo either.
There is no doubt that Glen Hansard had a real heart for homeless people and was a man of immense talent, but instant hagiography helps no one. We are all complex beings, a mixture of good and bad, and we all need prayers.
A death of someone we love, or even someone we admired from a distance, often leaves us shocked and bewildered. We can only pray to live life so that death, when it comes, does not have the final victory.
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