Exhale and Hearty
Among the elderly, death is often linked to birthdays - women often die the week after theirs; men, curiously, the week before.
Incidence or coincidence? Life is rife with many such unsolved mysteries, most of which pertain to the closing curtain of life's final act. When, why, and how are mysteries related to death's arrival. But the inevitability of death is a given. "Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment" (Heb 9:27).
On the issue of life, cutesy bromides abound. One of the most meaningful is" "Life is fragile - handle with prayer." Why is this aphorism so meaningful? Because of another maxim, from classical spirituality: "As a person prays, so will he live; as he lives so will he die; as he dies, so will he fare for all eternity,"
As death approaches, if we are truly thinking persons (and still able to think), we may be given the grace to priortize our values. Our mind may be filled with many gratifying memories of the virtues we have practiced during life; but there will also be regrets - about past moral failures, wasted time, and so on. One regret that will come to the foreground in our life-review will be the countless times that we could have easily prayed but didn't. To prepare for a holy demise, learn to "pray always," both "now and at the hour of our death,." Then, "have a happy death-day!"
This excerpt is from the book One-Minute Meditations for Busy People, by John H. Hampsch, C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications. It and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/video recordings can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408 or www.Catholicbooks.netHappy