On living

As a hospice chaplain, 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. Instead, she discovered she'd been granted an invaluable chance to witness firsthand what she calls the "spiritual work of dying." Most of all, though, she listened as her patients talked about love-- for their children and partners and friends; returned, unrequited, and sometimes spurned. Now she passes along all the precious and necessary gifts contained in their stories.