Speaking about death is difficult. Death is scary; it makes us touch our fragility. It makes us feel finite and insecure. It reveals the fact that we don’t have total control over our lives.
No one knows the day or the hour when we will leave this world. For this reason, here are a few questions that we should ask ourselves each day:
If God were to call me now, in this very instant, am I ready to die? Have I done enough in this world? Have I loved with all that I have? Do I strive for holiness each day? Have I fulfilled my desires and dreams? Have I made those around me feel valued and loved?
Many times, when I think of death, I remember a phrase that I like a lot. It’s by Saint John of the Cross: “In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone.”
When we find ourselves face to face with God, He won’t ask us how much wealth we have accumulated, how many professional titles we obtained, how many properties we bought.
But, have you loved?
God will ask us how much we loved others, how much we gave of ourselves, how much we were able to overcome our own egoism and leave behind our egocentrism in order to transform the lives of others, how much we were able to perceive the other person’s heart in order to understand and comprehend them, how much we exploited the capacity to love that each one of us has received.
The evening of our lives is the time when we draw close to death, when little by little we fade and darken, like the sun.
Finally, we must remember that we are in this world to love and the measure of our love will decide the measure of our happiness. What color do we want our sunset to be?
