Horizon Information Portal

e-branch

Home

My Account/Renew Loans

Find Magazine Articles & more

On living / Kerry Egan.

by Egan, Kerry.

View full image

Riverhead Books, 2016.

Conduct of life.

Spiritual life.

Church work with the terminally ill.

Terminally ill -- Religious aspects -- Christianity.

Hospice care -- Anecdotes.

Chaplains, Hospital -- Biography.

9781594634819 (hc.)

208 pages ; 22 cm

The stories we tell -- The crucible of love -- Gloria's baby -- If I had only known, I would have danced more -- Where there's breath, there's hope -- Living in the gray -- Jeremiah -- Born, and born again, and again -- Love and other real things -- Ordinary angels -- Imagination and suffering -- Dying is just a verb -- It's a beautiful life and then you leave it.

"A hospice chaplain passes on wisdom on giving meaning to life, from those taking leave of it. As a hospice chaplain, Kerry Egan didn't offer sermons or prayers, unless they were requested; in fact, she found, the dying rarely want to talk about God, at least not overtly. She'd been granted an invaluable chance to witness firsthand what she calls the "spiritual work of dying" - The work of finding or making meaning of one's life, the experiences it's contained and the people who have touched it, the betrayals, wounds, unfinished business, and unrealized dreams. Instead of talking, she mainly listened: to stories of hope and regret, shame and pride, mystery and revelation and secrets held too long. Most of all, she listened as her patients talked about love - love for their children and partners and friends; love they didn't know how to offer; love they gave unconditionally; love they, sometimes belatedly, learned to grant themselves. An emergency procedure during the birth of the author's first child left her physically whole but emotionally and spiritually adrift. Her work as a hospice chaplain healed her, from a brokenness she came to see we all share. Each of her patients taught her something - how to find courage in the face of fear or the strength to make amends; how to be profoundly compassionate and fiercely empathetic; how to see the world in grays instead of black and white. In this poignant, moving, and beautiful book, she passes along all their precious and necessary gifts"--Provided by publisher.

Horizon Information Portal 3.24_8902M

© 2001-2013 SirsiDynix All rights reserved.

Horizon Information Portal