Death Comes Unexpectedly 

Death comes on unexpectedly. The life is short. Time is passing. Today alive! Tomorrow dead! … One God who sees us! One moment that escapes us … One eternity that awaits us. (OCL, I, 16, p. 46)

Death, for St. Vincent, is a reality every human person has to face up to in his life. A person can be sure that his death will take place without any doubt, yet a person does not know exactly when he has to face his death for death comes unexpectedly. Since a person is always moving towards death and it comes unexpectedly, the life of a person is reasonably short. The passing of each moment of time opens the person to his final moment. There is no turning back and having a little more time. Therefore, St. Vincent says that today a person is alive and tomorrow he is dead. All these happen under the plan of the One God who sees everything. Death takes place in one moment. At that moment, death becomes definite, final, and actual. Once that happens, eternity awaits the human person. As a person reflects on death, St. Vincent Pallotti does not want to create a sense of fear in the person. He wants a person to accept the existential reality of his death and live it on a daily basis. Living one’s death consists of allowing the reality of death to give a sense of meaning to all a person does daily. Every person must realize that death is a continuous event that happens everyday, as every passing moment is a moment nearer to death. Accepting this truth, a person fixing his mind on eternity must live his life meaningfully, fruitfully and joyfully.

Do I think about my death? Do I own my death as my final possibility? Do I realize that every passing moment takes me nearer to my death? Do I live my death on a daily basis? Do I realize my death opens me into eternity and live in that light?

It is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgement. (Heb. 9: 27)