Are you afraid to die?

It is inevitable.  Death comes a calling for all of us.  Too soon sometimes, and sometimes too late. It seldom comes at the time it is convenient for us because we have so much to do and our heads are often so much ado about nothing.

We spend our days searching for the fountain of youth in anti-aging serums, exercise programs, Botox, herbal potions, and the list goes on and on.

Why do we do it?  Why do we try to avoid what no one has ever been able to avoid?

Maybe it’s because what we most prize is here on this earth and not in heaven.  Maybe we believe that this is all there is. Or maybe we are just plain scared of the unknownness of it all.

There is no getting around it.  We don’t know the details of what will take place for each of us.  We’ve read the books on what others have encountered in their near death experiences.  We’ve heard about the light people see, the angels people hear, and the loved ones that meet someone who is near the river’s edge.  But we don’t know what it will be for us. And that’s just the way it is.

So what do we do to lessen the uncertainty and, for some, the fear?  St. Thomas Aquinas said in his Imitation of Christ, “Every action of yours, every thought, should be those of one who expects to die before the day is out.  Death would have no great terrors for you if you had a quiet conscience....Then why not keep clear of sin instead of running away from death?  If you aren’t fit to face death today, it’s very unlikely you will be tomorrow...”

I believe this is key: have a quiet conscience...today.  If my conscience is telling me I am not fit to stand before God because of unconfessed sin, then I had better confess the sin and stop practicing it.

If material things have a hold on my heart, then I had better sell the things or give them to the poor, as Jesus suggested to the rich, young ruler. If I want to accomplish X, Y, Z before I die, I must remember that X, Y, and Z don’t mean a hill of beans if it is not part of God’s Kingdom plan.

Jesus told the young ruler, and he tells us too, that when we focus on building for ourselves treasure in heaven where moths nor rust can destroy and thieves cannot steal, our hearts will eventually yearn to go home.