Thoughts of our Death keep us traveling on the road to Heaven.
“Are you afraid of dying,” asked a parishioner after morning Mass one day. I responded, “Do you mean am I afraid to meet Jesus at the end of my life?” This is a question I get often. They ask me if I am fearful because deep down, they are.
The reason is they haven’t listened to Jesus’ words or live their lives according to his preaching and teaching. Now they are worried that Jesus is angry with them.
My suggestion is to ask Jesus for his mercy and forgiveness. Why? The Lord would rather forgive than punish us. If we ask for forgiveness and are truly sorry, Jesus will say what he said to the woman caught in adultery, “Has no one accused you?” She responded, “No one Lord.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I.” He then whispered, “Go and sin no more.” She left thankful for such a loving and kindly man as Jesus.
Every time we express our sorrow and our desire to change, the Lord God offers his healing grace. William Wallace, better known as Braveheart, was one of Scotland’s greatest heroes. He once observed, “Every man dies, but not every person lives.”
What Braveheart meant is nobody fears death more than those who have not lived. He later expanded on this adding, “Nobody fears death more than those who have not discovered who they are and have not offered that gift to the world.” Indeed, death is unavoidable, but a well lived life is not.
Woody Allen once remarked “I’m not afraid of death. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” While William Wallace says it this way, “When you come to the end of your life, and when death is undeniably near, what will bring you unmitigated joy?”
Some would say thinking about death is morbid. I don’t think Jesus thinks so! Our dying is only a temporary moment thanks to Jesus’ dying and rising for us. And Jesus did this without it costing us anything.
Since Jesus’ death and resurrection seals our destiny, death becomes a marvelous gift given to us through Jesus and his father. Death frees us to live our lives to the fullest.
I’m willing to wager that the wisest people of every age have pondered death and eternity. While others, who filled their lives with frivolous activity and idle nothingness, are stuffed with emptiness. Death and the knowledge of its inevitability, serve an important purpose in our lives.
St Francis de Sales writes this about death:
It is a consolation to know that the relationships begun on this earth will continue in heaven.
Painting: Woman Caught in Adultery, Kathleen Peterson, Artist
