“The just man, though he die early, shall be at rest. For the age that is honorable comes not with the passing of time nor can it be measured in terms of years.” If we have read articles or been to funerals involving an untimely death we might hear the words “He had so much potential” or “She never got to go to the prom. or They had their whole lives ahead of them.”
As though the value of a life depended on its length. “…he who lived among sinners was transported, snatched away, lest wickedness pervert his mind or deceit beguile his soul…”
We would be shocked if we heard the words at a funeral; “He had so much potential, for sin, but God spared him that.” Or, “We give thanks that God has taken this soul before it had the chance to really offend Him.” And yet these would be more true.
It doesn’t matter how long we have lived—only how.
“An unsullied life is the attainment of old age.” But sometimes God is so merciful that no matter how someone has lived, He saves them on their death bed. “Amen I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” The thief, who had never been with Jesus, or listened to His words, was given a chance to repent when he was dying. But Jesus said of Judas, who was with Jesus during his life, and given many chances to convert, that it would have been better if he had not been born.
So, what could be better than Jesus giving us heaven at our death?
It would be better, and we would be happier, if we had the same spirit of repentance and trust in God’s mercy as the good thief, along with living an unsullied life. And we are all given the means to do this here [on earth].
The thief spent about 3 hours with our Lord and was saved. Judas spent about 3 years with our Lord, and wasn’t. …We do not know when we will die, whereas the good thief and Judas did. It doesn’t matter how long we live, only how we live.
Today we pray for our deceased confreres and benefactors, that for their goodness to us God may welcome them into his Kingdom. But we also pray that we will be ready for our own death. Some here will die after long illness, but some will probably die in their sleep, or when they least expect it, without time to repent or to say a perfect act of contrition.
But God has given us the means for grace, Confession, Mass, and His presence in the Blessed Sacrament. Let us appreciate these gifts, so that if we were to die this year or within the next few years, we could say of ourselves, with the book of Wisdom; “Having become perfect in a short while, he reached the fullness of a long career; for his soul was pleasing to the Lord.
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Fr. Benedict Solomon, O.Praem, is a member of the Norbertine order at St. Michael’s Abbey in Silverado, CA.