Anther tactic that we must be vigilant about is how the Enemy suggests to us that death is a distant reality that we should never worry about.
[featured-image single_newwindow=”false”]
The Enemy uses all of his influence to try to prevent us from preparing for death. His greatest fear is that we will realize life is short and instead of pushing off our preparations, we will live as if today could be our last.
There is an old saying that goes, “If the Lord tarries…” Typically this is said about something in the future and is referencing the fact that Christ’s Second Coming could be here before the future event occurs. It is a healthy saying that keeps in mind the fact that whether it is the end of the world, or just the end of ours, life is short.
This saying is an example of exactly what Satan hates.
He would much prefer that we spend our days as if we could live on forever. This is very tempting, especially in our modern world where “medicine cures all.” We live much older than any of our ancestors and believe that we have conquered every disease known to the human race. In a certain sense, we think that we are immortal and can somehow “cheat” death. We think that death is somewhere in the distant future, years and years down the line.
It is not uncommon for us to think, “I will live my life to the full and when I am really old, I will start to think about God and death.” The Enemy thoroughly enjoys this train of thought. Even purchasing a cemetery plot before death is something that most people never do. It reminds us of our mortality and Satan does not want us to think of that. Here is how Screwtape describes the devil’s tactics,
How much better for us if all humans died in costly nursing homes amid doctors who lie, nurses who lie, friends who lie, as we have trained them, promising life to the dying, encouraging the belief that sickness excuses every indulgence, and even, if our workers know their job, withholding all suggestion of a priest lest it should betray to the sick man his true condition! (24)
What Satan is doing is tricking us to postpone our final preparations. Instead of being ready to die every day of our life, we have the illusion that death is something that “won’t happen to me.” This temptation makes us vulnerable to all the attacks of the Enemy and just because we end up in a nursing home doesn’t mean we can’t sin anymore. The devil will take advantage of us and try to get us to indulge in any sin that takes us away from God. Thus, while we are in our final days, instead of waiting eagerly for our God to call us home we will try to fill our days with mindless activities that satiate our boredom.
Death remains an aspect of our life that we deny and choose to ignore.
To conclude this short lesson, here is a beautiful saying that one can see in the sacristies of the Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity all over the world and should be written in all of our hearts to remind us how to live life. The board says:
Priest of God,
Celebrate this Mass as if it is your first Mass,
Your last Mass and your only Mass.
Takeaway point #5: We know neither the day nor the hour when God will call us home. Let us live each day prepared and ready for death to take us home to our Beloved God and Savior!
***If you would like to follow-along reading the The Screwtape Letters, I suggest to purchase your own copy of C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters
