The 3 Dead Men

Today was a nice day, it started off foggy and chilly but by the time I reached the top of mont st Michel the sun was shining bright and i shed down to my most basic layer. Mont st Michel is an incredible place it starts with religion and thrives on architectural feats that are truly impressive to the history of a country and then it returns back to its religious roots.

St Michael the archangel appeared in a dream and the construction on the mont on an island began. The construction was so impressive that it pulled the best talents of the age. The abbey was built at the top where the religious left the world to pray and work. This is when the monastery like all monasteries where busy creating by hand the bible and other religious manuscripts since the printing press was centuries away from creation. The abbey was built in three layers since it was built literally on the point of a rock. The crypt, bottom layer was for the poor pilgrims, the middle layer for the king and nobility, and the top layer for the religious only.

This is how it went for many years and pilgrims would come to this site. Well after centuries the French revolution came and wanted to overthrow power be it the king or the church. This is when destruction came to mont st Michel. They turned the abbey into a prison and destroy all religious articles- breaking stain glass, tearing up the tile floors, the paintings, etc. today they have restore the abbey to functional but not to it's former glory. In the cloister where the monks would go outside to mediate you can see the damage the revolutionaries did to anything religious - they busted the stone work of any image of Jesus, saints, etc but they did not harm the flower stone work.

To save money over the centuries they used the previous materials and so at one point in the 19th century they were able to find part of an old religious painting from the middle ages that had survived the revolution. The part that was saved was a picture of 3 dead men. In the middle ages mont st Michel had become a site for pilgrims so it was the churches duty to save souls and educate. The peasants could not read but a common image was 3 live and 3 dead men - each dress according to a different station in life. The point being the stuff we collect is nothing and all of us shall return to the earth - dust to dust but the soul lives forever- so where do you want to be heaven or hell. Each man makes this choice in his earthly life.

I was reading today that everyday we should think this is our last day and make sure we are ready for our end. In today's culture, live like you were dying means go do everything you want to do the bucket list and yet in medieval culture it was about making sure you were ready for heaven and your soul was saved. Amazing how time can so quickly change a concept.

I could not begin to recount the number of conversations that I had with students that they want to be in heaven when they die but that first they want to have fun and ignore teaching since we all view death as something much later in life.

I know I have not always been ready for my last day but so often I thought of people whom lives were cut short and that we never know when our last day will be but with most certainly that last day will be a surprise for us all - for we do not know our hour.