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“In a little while you will no longer see me,” said the Lord, “then in a little while you will see me again.”  The apostle and disciples assumed this to mean that the second coming of Christ would be in their lifetimes. That the end-time was near. Perhaps an understandable assumption on their part, an assumption simultaneously right and wrong. It was wrong if they thought it to mean the end of the world, but it was right in that it did mean that each one of them would indeed “in a little while see [him] again,” when each one died.

 

And so is it for each and every one of us. The world should be expected to continue to exist until Jesus’s promise to teach the Gospel to all corners is fulfilled, but for each one of us it will end much sooner, in a very personal way. Many people try never to think about the most important event in life, the one very inescapable event, without which no one can achieve the singular most important goal of life – our union with God, namely death. My family motto once was, “In death is victory”, meaning that only through death can the true and finally victory of salvation be reached.

 

And that great leveler will arrive suddenly, very often without warning, whether one is ready or not. Time will cease. Faith will cease, for it will change to knowledge. Hope will cease, for it will change to fact. All shall be achieved without chance of change, for better or worse. Only love will remain, for those saved. 

 

Each will be eternally separated from all earthly possessions, success, material wealth and its attributes and toys, fame, position, power, ambitions, beauty, strength, everything one for so long considered to be of importance and value. Some things will remain, of course: the memories of others of our deeds, character, dedication, assistance to others, courage, compassion, integrity – or the lack thereof. They will remain, but for only a fleeting moment in the continuation of earthly time.

 

These reflections are not meant to shock or frighten or depress, but rather to alert and remind each of us to have in mind from time to time this one inescapable reality, usually not willingly contemplated. To recommend that each one look forward to that moment of finality not with dread but as the doorway to final victory.