WELCOME, SISTER DEATH, A Franciscan Preparation for Holy Dying,
Ted Witham TSSF.
Review by Shirley Claughton, ST JOHNS BOOKS.
A small book (60 pages) but packed with wisdom, reflections, explorations and enlightenment.
October 2026 marks the 800th anniversary of Saint Francis’ death in 1226 at just 44 years old. We are told that Saint Francis died singing!
Ted has produced several remarkable works, and this new book is pointedly written at 77 years of age. He “invites us to take the death and resurrection of the human body seriously.” “Understanding more about our bodily nature and about the time-bound world, helps us see the prospect of eternity with greater clarity.” From the start of his book, Ted is keen to look beyond the “Fairytale” oversimplification of the resurrection whereby “the idea of meeting loved ones in heaven after we die is so much less than is promised in Scripture … what God promises is so much more than meeting our loved ones after death.”
He proceeds to unpack the concept of “The Nature of Time”. A linear way of thinking which was reinforced in the 1700s, suggests that we are born in the past, live in the present and then will live forever in the presence of Christ. But, before people started to think linear, the Christian’s sense of time, “was shaped by the round of the liturgical year” and suggests that “for us as Christians, to think of resurrection life as life after death, is not the only option; nor is it the best option.”
The book is presented in six chapters bracketed by a Prelude and a Coda, and includes excellent reflection questions, several significant poems by the author, personal stories, and insights into the teaching of Rudolf Bultmann and Franciscan Scholars Richard Rohr and Ilia Delio, as well as Teilhard de Chardin.
Throughout this book, I believe the author presents a plausible approach to a preparation for Holy Dying. He says “that’s not the end of the story. ‘I believe in the resurrection of the body’ Not the resuscitation of a body…The resurrection body is much more wonderful, so wonderful that, in our physical bodies, we cannot begin to imagine it.”
Amongst the engaging experiences included is recounting a trip up north where, after an adventure-packed day along the Gibb River Road, Ted and Rae wandered into the bush near Broome, where it was completely dark, the only light was the tiny light on the distant bus. “We looked up. The stars were extraordinary. They were bright, and there were so many of them. As we gazed, the black dome of the sky seemed to disappear altogether. Then we seemed to disappear too, until there was only the thousands of bright sparkling stars in a field of black. We were no longer observing the stars, we were a tiny part of the whole stellar universe. We were not only in the Now, but we were also part of it.”
Saint Francis died singing. “One of God’s great gifts is music. Singing, singing together in Church, takes us out of ourselves and brings us into a union with each other…if we allow ourselves to be caught up in the spirit of singing, we experience that greater humanity, and it is a tiny taste of what God has in mind for us.”
Like Saint Francis of Assisi, Ted writes, I want to die singing
Ted Witham is a much respected and admired Anglican priest and poet, with many years’ experience in Parish, School Chaplaincy, and education. He is the author of several well-received books, is a Franciscan tertiary and this spirituality permeates his thinking.
Books will be available for sale at $10 each at the St Johns Books Synod table.
Visit trove.nla.gov.au and enter 9780975012291(tick Display Sensitive Material) to read a free pdf copy, or email Ted at tedwitham1@gmail.com for the paper version of this very readable, gentle yet insightful book!
