The prolific spiritual writer Henri Nouwen, who shares his life with people with mental disabilities at the L'Arche Daybreak Community in Toronto, was brought face-to-face with his own mortality after an accident. In Our Greatest Gift: A Meditation on Dying and Caring he looks at the role the challenging mystery of death plays in his life now that he is 60 years old.

Conscious of the illness of a co-worker, the plight of a relative with cancer, and the passing of a mentor, Nouwen ponders what he calls the process of befriending death. It begins by acknowledging our dependency on God in a sort of second childhood. This leads to the next step — being able to envision ourselves as brothers and sisters of each other. Those who are dying all over the world because of violence, illness, or starvation have much to teach us. The third step in befriending death is seeing ourselves as parents of generations to come. This means passing on a part of ourselves to others right now.

"Dying," according to Nouwen, "is not a sweet, sentimental act; it is a great struggle to surrender our lives completely." The author writes about the ministry ordinary people can provide by being with those who are at "the gateway to a new life." In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Nouwen sees signs of both God's faithfulness and God's fruitfulness. These signs help him and us understand that death can become one's best gift to the world.