Do
You Sometimes Wonder
How You’re Going to Die?
Most of us lead busy lives and maybe don’t have much time to ponder that question. But occasionally, we may get a reminder that our lifespan isn’t endless, and at some point, it’s going to come to a close. For example, we might have a close brush with another driver on the highway. For some, it might be a call from your doctor. Or for a soldier, being sent into combat might be that reminder. Catching the Chinese Covid might have caused some to wonder if “this is it”. Drive-by shootings are responsible for many people meeting their ends unexpectedly in these lawless times. And on and on.
Older people may have more of a tendency to wonder what’s in store for them because, of course, their eternity is likely much closer to them than, say, a teenager’s.
Besides considering your future death, hovering at the margins of your thoughts you might also be concern about what future years have in store for you. Is it travel, good health, peace, comfort, enjoyment, etc.? Or might it be bedridden years, disability, wheelchairs, heart attacks, etc.?
This is a point at which having the traditional Catholic Faith pays off big-time. Holding on to your Faith through all these years of controversy and heresy has now armed you with the ability to see through the doubt and worry about your future, and focus on Our Lord guiding you to your life’s goal: eternal salvation.
Yes, you could still suffer affliction, distress, or adversity, but you have the certain knowledge that God has sent you only what you need to save your soul. And if God – Who loves you and has your best interests at heart – sends these troubles to you, it can only be because you need them to get to heaven. And how can you argue with that?
If you didn’t have this Divine assistance, the future would be quite bleak, or worrisome, or even frightening. But the good Lord knows that we feeble humans need His help – especially toward the end of our lives, whenever that might come. Thus, He has given us some extraordinary helps to aid us in the waning moments or the dwindling days of our lives.
St. Francis de Sales says that to wish to do the Will of God is of unspeakable merit. He states that if a Christian (read: traditional Catholic) learns of his impending death and accepts it because it is God’s Will, he might go straight to heaven.
Pope St. Pius X seems to have had this doctrine in mind when he granted a plenary indulgence at the hour of death when this prayer is said:
O my God, from this moment forward I accept with a joyful and resigned heart the death You will be pleased to send me, with all its pains, sufferings, and anguish![1]