Good Deaths

Sed, Domine, si fuisses hic, frater meus non fuisset mortuus... Nisi morte gratiae, qua morte debet homo mori carni, mundo, et peccato. Debet enim homo spiritualis mori carni. Hac enim morte voluit nos mortificari ille qui pro peccatis nostris mortuus est, ut nos offerret Deo, mortificatus quidem carne, vivificatus autem spiritu; unde ad Romanos octavo: Si spiritu facta carnis mortificaveritis, vivetis. Debet etiam mori mundo, secundum illud ad Galatas sexto: Mihi mundus crucifixus est, et ego mundo; ad Colossenses tertio: Quae sursum sunt quaerite , non quae super terram; mortui enim estis etc. Debet iterum mori peccato; ad Romanos sexto: Qui mortui sumus peccato, quomodo adhuc vivemus in illo? item in eodem: Qui mortuus est iustificatus est a peccato. Sic ergo debet homo spiritualis mori carni, mori mundo et mori peccato, quod est non retinere motum in illis vel sensum. Sunt autem tria, quae occidunt hominem morte spirituali, scilicet studium contemplutionis , affectus dilectionis, humilitas conversationis. Contemplatio suspendit, dilectio transfigit, humilitas vero sepelit et recondit. Debet ergo homo mori per studium contemplationis, ut sit eius meditatio quasi suspendium; unde lob septimo: Elegit suspendium anima mea, et mortem ossa mea. Debet etiam mori per ardorem dilectionis, ut sit eius affectio quasi transfixa, quia, sicut dicitur Canticorum octavo, fortis est sicut mors dilectio, et dura sicut infernus aemulatio; lampades eius quasi lampades ignis atque flammarum. Hac morte quasi transfixa erat quae dicebat: Vulnerata caritate ego sum. Debet etiam mori per humilitatem conversationis, ut sit eius vita quasi sepulta sive abscondita, secundum illud ad Colossenses tertio: Mortui estis, et vita vestra abscondita est cum Christo in Deo. Haec mors quaerenda est et amanda, quia placat Deum, aedificat proximum, locupletat defunctum. Mors ista placat Deum; est enim pretiosa in conspectu Domini mors Sanctorum eius; et bene pretiosa, quia pro illa dat regnum caelorum; unde secundae ad Timotheum secundo: Si commortui sumus, et convivemus; si sustinebimus, et conregnabimus. Item, mors ista aedificat proximum; unde secundi Machabaeorum sexto dicebat ille bonus senex Eleazarus: Adolescentulis forte exemplum relinquam , si pro sanctissimis legibus honesta morte perfungar. Item, mors illa locupletat defunctum; unde loannis duodecimo: Si granum frumenti cadens in terram mortuum fuerit, multum fructum affert. Sanctus Bonaventura, Collationes In Evangelium Ioannem, Caput VIII, Collatio XLII Source: Here, p590

But, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died... 1 Unless it is a death by grace, by which death a man should die to the flesh and the world and sin. For a man should die spiritually to the flesh. He wishes us to be mortified with this death, He who died for our sins, that He might offer us to God mortified in the flesh but alive in the spirit, hence in the eighth chapter of Romans, 'If with the spirit you have mortified the flesh, you shall live.' One should die to the world in the sixth chapter of Galatians, 'The world has been crucified to me and I to the world.' In the third chapter of Colossians, 'Seek the things which are above, not the things of the earth, for you are dead.' One should die to sin in the sixth chapter of Romans 'Who are dead to sin, yet we live in Him.' 3 And in the same place 'He who has died is justified from sin.' 2 Therefore a man should die to the flesh, and die to the world, and die to sin, which is not to have any affection or sense of them. There are, then, three ways by which the spiritual death kills a man, that is, by the zeal of contemplation, the affection of love, and humility of life. Contemplation lifts up, love transfixes, humility buries and conceals. Therefore a man should die through zeal in contemplation, so that his mediation is as a thing lifted up, whence in the seven chapter of Job, 'My soul chooses to be hung, my bones death.' 3 He should be dead through the ardour of love, so that his affection is as a thing transfixed, because as it says in the Song of Songs, 'Love is as strong as death, and jealousy as hard as hell, its lamps are as lamps of fire and flame.' With this death he was transfixed who said, 'I am wounded by love.' 4 One should die through the humility of living, so that life is as a tomb or something concealed, according to which it is said in the third chapter of Colossians, 'You are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.' 5 This death must be sought and loved because it pleases God, it edifies neighbours, it profits the dead. This death pleases God, for 'precious in the sight of God is the death of His holy ones.' 6 and it is truly precious because He gives the kingdom of heaven for it, whence in the second chapter of the second letter to Timothy, 'If we are dead with Him we live with Him, if we endure with Him we shall reign with Him.' 7 Likewise death edifies neighbours, as that good elder Eleazar says in the sixth chapter of the second book of Maccabees, 'And I shall leave an example of fortitude to the young, if with a ready mind and constancy I suffer an honourable death for the most venerable and most holy laws.' And this death profits the dead, whence in the twelfth chapter of John, 'If a grain of wheat failing on the earth shall die, it shall bring forth much fruit.' 8 Saint Bonaventura, Observations On The Gospel Of Saint John, Chapter 8 1 Jn 8.43 2 1 Pet 3.18, Rom 8.13, Gal6.14, Col 3.1, Rom 6.2,7 3 Job 7.15 4 Song 8.6, 2.5 5 Colos 3.3 6 Ps 115.5 7 2 Tim 2.11 8 2 Mac 6.28, Jn 12.24