James Spader plays Raymond “Red” Reddington in NBC’s hit series The Blacklist. As task force director Harold Cooper once quipped to his team, Reddington is the man “we love to hate, and hate to love.”
As nefarious as this criminal mastermind might be, “Red” does possess his share of insightful bon mots. Here is another one I recently discovered:
“So many people find cemeteries to be a reminder of loss. I find them to be a fervent reminder to seize the day.”
St. Francis de Sales wrote:
“Truly we shall die someday, we know not on which. That said, we must hold fast, continuing our exercises, our desires, our resolutions and our determinations…Let us live joyfully in the Lord and for the Lord, and let us not frighten ourselves about death. I do not say that we should not fear it at all; I say we should not disturb ourselves about it.” (Living Jesus, pp. 70-71).
So, knowing that death will claim each of us – more likely than not, at a time we least expect – how should the inevitability of death impact the way we live our lives? St. Francis wrote:
“This is what all the saints did: they prepared themselves to die well by living a good life…Sometime during each day, we ought to dwell on such thoughts in order to be ready to die any day, using each day that we live as we would if we were certain that on that day we were to go forth from this world.” (Living Jesus, pp. 70-71).
Don’t be like the person in the Parable of the Talents who buried his talents out of fear of losing them. Knowing that our earthly life will end should not immobilize us; rather, it should motivate us to make the best use of each and every moment of time God gifts us. To the degree that we enjoy longevity, we become more and more aware that one of the most precious of blessings is, indeed, the gift of time. And, how we use our passing time has ramifications for eternity. Francis de Sales observed:
“When I think how I have used God’s time, I fear that he may not want to give me his eternity, since he only wants to bestow his eternity on those who make good use of his time now…” (Stopp, Selected Letters, p. 172).
Acknowledging the reality of death – and the losses that come with it – must not dampen our enthusiasm for life: in fact, it should enhance it! There is no better way to prepare for a good death than by living a good life. Today – just today – seize this day!
By Rev. Michael Murray, OSFS
DeSales Weekly: https://oblates.squarespace.com/desales-weekly
DeSales Weekly Editor: : Rev. John (Jack) Kolodziej, OSFS
