Why Do We Reflect on Our Own Death?

Do you remember the first time you encountered death?

I do. I remember the first funeral I attended as a kid, the smell of the white paper money burning before the tomb of a relative, the gloomy faces, and the tears in my eyes. This was my first encounter with death.

A thousand questions popped into my mind: What is death? And where do we go after death? But without faith, no one could give me an answer.

Without faith, the mystery of death terrified me. I couldn’t sleep. The only way out was to forget, forget death, forget that one day I would be like the one for whom I wept.

Now the Church invites us to do just the opposite — not to forget, but to remember. On All Souls’ Day, we remember our deceased loved ones; we pray for them and for all the souls in purgatory; and we ponder our own death. But why?

Of course, death is terrible — it is the violent separation of body and soul, the end of all earthly bonds, the wage of sin.

But we hear and believe that: “This is the will of the Father that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life” (Jn 6:40), and “whoever believes in Him, even if he dies, will live” (Jn 11:25).

Because of Christ, death is no longer the door that closes in behind me and shuts me in darkness, but it is the gate of heaven, a doorway to eternal life.

This is why we mourn for our deceased loved ones yet with the hope of being reunited with them in paradise. This is why we should also mourn for our sins and repent because they are the only things that will sever our union with Jesus and our loved ones.

And so, let us live by the truth and not look away. Let us accept death as Christ accepted it on the cross and say to God today and on the last day, “Father, into your hands I command my spirit.”