The thought of death is a most terrible object for those who are living in sin; they have no other resource than to put such a thought entirely away from them. What a sad resource! They are like a man who, on the edge of a frightful precipice, shuts his eyes that he may not see his danger.
The thought of death is still more terrible for those who only serve God out of a spirit of self-interest, who look at their salvation only as it regards themselves, and who think more of the justice of God than of His mercy. And, as a general rule, this thought is very distressing for any one who is not completely detached from the things of this world, and who does not constantly practise a dying to himself.
But the thought of death is sweet and consoling to those interior souls who have given themselves to God in good faith, and who, occupied solely in loving and serving Him, have placed their fate in His hands.
The first persons, that is, the sinners, look upon death as the end of all their pleasures and the beginning of a misery which will never end; and this thought drives them to despair.
The second, that is, the self-interested ones, look upon death with the eyes of self-love, and, allowing themselves to be too much afraid of the judgments of God, they only see in death the terrible moment which must decide their eternity; the uncertainty in which they are as to the lot which awaits them fills them with consternation, because, on the one hand, they have not sufficient trust in God, and on the other hand, faith and their own conscience will not allow them to rely on their good works or on the pardon of their sins.
But the third, those who have given themselves entirely to God, expect everything from His infinite goodness. As they fear to offend God far more than they fear hell, they look upon death with joy, as the moment which will unite their will for ever to that which is good, which will deliver them from all their temptations, and which will shelter them for ever from sin. As the love ot God is their principal, and indeed their only employment here, they see in the passage from this life only a happy change which will assure to them the possession of God and the ineffable bliss of loving Him for all eternity. It is not that they have a positive assurance of their salvation, but they have a firm faith and trust in God, and their conscience bears witness to their constant fidelity to Him. The sight of their past sins does not frighten them, because long since they have hated them with a sincere hatred, and they have cast all their sins into the bosom of the Divine mercy. They think that it is Jesus Christ who will be their judge, and they say to themselves: "Why should I fear Him Who has given me so many graces, Who has preserved me from sin, or raised me up again when I had fallen into it, Who inspired me with the desire of giving myself entirely to Him, Whom I love more than I love myself, and Whom I wish to love until my last breath?"
What regret can these souls have for this life? they have never been attached to anything in it. What fear can they have of the consequences of death, when after death they will belong more to God than they did during life, when they will be His irrevocably and for ever, and when they will never more have anything to fear from the inconstancy of their will? As long as they were alive, they might perhaps have succumbed to temptation, and might have lost the grace of God: this was their only fear, and this fear will cease for ever at the moment of death, and they will be established in perfect safety.
In short, the manner in which we look upon death depends upon the disposition of our hearts. When the heart is purified from the poison of self-love, when the assiduous exercise of prayer and interior mortification has broken down all the barriers between the soul and God, when we have passed through trials which have led us by degrees to the greatest sacrifices, and when we have attained to a state of perfect union with God, it is impossible for us to fear death; we no longer look at it as it regards ourselves, but only as it regards the will of God; and in this holy will death loses all its terrors: it is only amiable and desirable for those whose will is absorbed in the will of God.
To understand what I have just said, and to feel the truth of it, we must have attained to this happy state of conformity to the will of God. But although we may not yet be able to understand it completely, we may rest assured that it is so, and we may believe the experience of so many holy souls, who have only found peace and sweetness and joy in the thought of death.
Another thing which is equally true is that the thought of death is one of those that least occupy interior souls. The reason of this is that God, Who is the sovereign Master of their spirit, turns their thoughts to other objects more conducive to their spiritual advancement. And as all that is so terrible about death comes in a great measure from the imagination, and from the natural dread man has of it, in proportion as the imagination dies and we are detached from our bodies and become spiritualised, we lose all the fear we once had of death, and accustom ourselves to look at it as God wishes we should look at it. Now, God certainly does not wish a soul that has given itself to Him to be terrified at the thought of death.
Besides, it is not by reflections drawn from our reason, nor even by the motives which faith teaches us, that we succeed in looking upon death with calmness and assurance. This assurance is a gift of God, and He only gives this grace to those who have placed their temporal and eternal interests in His hands, who are no longer anxious about themselves in any way, and who have but one sole object, which is the accomplishment of His Divine will. When we are absolutely lost in God death has nothing that can hurt us.
It is quite right to exhort the generality of Christians to reflect upon death, to consider its uncertainty and its consequences, because this is one of the most efficacious means of inducing them to lead a good life. But this practice, so salutary for the rest of the faithful, is not necessary for interior souls, because they ought not to restrict themselves to any particular practice, but to abandon themselves entirely to the guidance of the Spirit of God. Now the Spirit of God does not lead them to dwell in detail upon the thought of death, but it leads them to die incessantly to themselves by a mystical death to purify their senses, to renounce their own will, to lose themselves, to forget themselves, that they may live only in God and for God. This mystical death is their great object: they work at it on their part while God is also working at it on His part, and when they have at last attained to this blessed death, natural death becomes for them only a passage from this present life to eternal felicity.
It is not necessary then for an interior soul to take the thought of death as a subject for her meditations, or willingly to occupy herself with it. It is neither necessary nor useful for her since the happy moment when she gave herself to God and when God took possession of her. All she need do is to suffer herself to be guided by Divine grace in this thought as in all others. If the thought of death comes prominently before her while she is in prayer or making a spiritual reading, she must notice whether God seems to wish to draw her to this thought, and to occupy her with it by an interior attraction not to be mistaken. But if not, she need not go against her attraction, neither need she force herself to a thought which is not good for her present state. The love of God, generosity towards God, fidelity to His grace, a constant care to deny herself, and not to be anxious about herself or her own interests, these are the thoughts with which God inspires her; it is to these that He continually directs her meditation. These thoughts, which all tend to the attainment of the mystical death, are far more useful for her than thoughts about her natural death, for they draw her powerfully to renounce herself, and to allow herself to be annihilated by the Divine operation.
In conclusion, an interior soul has nothing else to do, with regard to her natural death, but not to think about it, unless God draws her to do so, and to abandon herself absolutely to Him as to the time of her death, the manner of her death, and what is to happen to her after death.
- taken from Manual for Interior Souls, by Father Jean Nicolas Grou