We are not mindful of death in our everyday life

We all know, logically, that we must die. However, none of us is mindful of it. It is the height of folly that even people in hospitals, paralyzed by illness, do not think seriously about death. I used to visit hospitals, administering the last sacraments to the terminally ill, and I asked myself: “O God, how is it possible that people are so indifferent to the salvation of their souls?” It happened once that I heard a confession of a dying man in a hospital. After the confession, the man said to me: “When I return home, I’ll make rabbit hutches.” I said to him: “How can you talk such nonsense? You are at death’s door and you think about such foolish things?! Think of your encounter with God when you will stand before His judgment seat!”

There is nothing more important in life than to be ever ready for death. No priest can save you in the hour of death but perfect contrition can. If you neglect to elicit perfect contrition, if you think of vanities, or if various thoughts attack you, do not think that it is all right with you just because you had confessed to a priest. Do not rely on the priest but on God’s mercy. You must learn to elicit perfect contrition, that means, to admit your sins in earnest and to give them to the Lord Jesus to be cleansed by the power of His Holy Blood. That’s your life assurance. Our salvation depends on perfect contrition! People hate the truth, the reality. Why? The reason is original sin which keeps us in deceit. But God is always waiting for us to return to Him, as we read in the parable of the prodigal son.

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