Reporters can be a bit like vultures. News of a (former) world leader’s failing health prompts a period of morbidly attentive waiting. Catholics are called to a different sort of watchfulness when death is imminent. In asking for prayers for his predecessor, Pope Francis asked specifically for the intention that “the Lord sustain him in this witness of love for the Church until the end.”

I was reminded of the beautiful John Henry Newman evening prayer:

O Lord,
support us all the day long of this troublous life,
until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes,
and the busy world is hushed,
and the fever of life is over
and our work is done.
Then in Thy mercy,
grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest
and peace at the last. Amen.