“Tempus Fugit, Memento Mori” (“Time Flies, Remember Death”)
- a motto of the Knights of Columbus
I know it’s not a popular activity, but meditating upon the realities of death is extremely important to our spiritual well being. If we desire to lead a good, holy life and live forever in Heaven, thinking about our death is imperative. Why? Because doing so reminds us that the temporal things of this life will pass and that we will be judged on how we lived our life. That judgment, occurring immediately after we die, will determine whether we spend eternity in Heaven or hell! Doesn’t it make sense to be prepared?
Last night, on my Following The Truth radio show, I devoted the program to this important topic and discussed the fact that none of us know when we will die. Michael R., a good friend and listener, sent me the following email this morning. His words are so powerful that I asked if I could share them.
I enjoyed your show last night. It is strange that songs telling us that “everybody wants to go heaven, but nobody wants to go now”, commercials telling us what we have to have now in order to be happy, better people, the struggle to make a better life for ourselves and our children and our desires to have all the toys we can get, all are in direct opposition to the Glory that God offers us. How can they compare?
Oh, we of such little faith that spend every minute trying to be happy now and completely blowing off the future. How easy it is for me to tell my children that they should wait for something and yet I run out to grab that cheeseburger or some other thing that is forgotten in 5 minutes.
We should eagerly anticipate a good death but we know we aren’t ready to have that face to face with God. I don’t think that it is really the fear of the unknown that bothers us as much as the fear of what is known of ourselves that haunts us and is suppressed because of our selfish desires. We are really good at denial. At least I am!
It is a good thing to contemplate death or rather that instant of it. Truly we are contemplating life, or our lives, leading up to it. It aids us putting our true desire to enter into the Kingdom paramount to all else- to love the Lord with our whole being always!
Oh, most blessed Mother, pray for us now and at the hour of our death because my faith is so weak I sorely neglect living well so that I may die. Let me remember always that all I want to hear then is “well done, my good and faithful servant “.
Gary, may you live well so that your death is a springboard into Heaven!
Enjoy this day the Lord has made! It might be the last one you have to endure.