We are all familiar with these common sayings. We use them regularly to remind ourselves that life is short and our time is precious.
Still we are always shocked when someone dies. We are amazed at the suddenness of death, its abrupt nature and the harshness of its reality. In the face of death, we are lost for words, helpless and confused. No matter how expected or unexpected the death is, most of us are afraid and upset.
Every now and then, it is good to reflect on death, not in a morbid way, but as a reality of life. The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is a good prayer to use for this meditation. It gives us the ability to deal with the fear contemplating our death creates. The Chaplet gives us the hope that even though we will die, life doesn’t end.
It is also good to reflect on the words of the Chaplet, so that we are conscious of the power of the prayer. Like most things in life, we can get careless and rattle through the prayer. So it is good to slow down while praying the Chaplet and let every word penetrate our soul. It is also useful to take a sentence of the Chaplet and let it be our mediation for the day. Praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, with pauses between each line can help us to become aware of the nearness of God as we pray.
But if we only contemplate our death, we could become upset. This meditation should make us realise how priceless the gift of life truly is. We should acknowledge that we know deep down that wasting time is sinful and we will have to give an account of how we used our time to God.
But even worse is the realisation that we wasted our precious, irreplaceable life. As Christians, we have fairly clear instructions as to how Jesus expects us to behave. We must pick our cross every day and follow Him. This means being considerate rather than being selfish. It means being charitable. It means repenting for sins rather than excusing them. It means fighting for what is right rather than taking easy street.
Our life will be over in a flash, but if we are wise and learn from Jesus, at least we will live a good life and enjoy it. We will avoid many of the pitfalls which the evil one tries to ensnare us in, to rob us of our peace of mind and destroy our relationships. So even though contemplating our death seems like a gloomy thing to do, it can help us refocus and realise what it truly important in our life.
But we must also realise that we will have to someday answer to God for how we lived our life and how we treated others. We must realise that we must prepare spiritually for this, as we might not get the opportunity for a deathbed conversion. We should prioritise our soul by going to confession, attending Mass and praying. As Christians, we must take seriously that there is a moment of judgement after we die, and it is only while we are alive, that mercy is available to us. It is for this reason, that Jesus gave us the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, so that many souls might be saved in their final moments, as He demonstrated to St. Faustina, because once we die, the door of mercy is shut and it is only Jesus who can defend us before God.
So contemplating death is a good thing for us to do so that we can realise how precious life is and how important our souls are. These insights should help us decide to remove what is sinful from our daily life and replace them with worthwhile Christian activities.