Christ comes to meet us and leads us into eternal life. “Not death, but God will take me” (St. Therese of Lisieus). [1005-1014, 1016, 1019]
In view of Jesus’ suffering and death, death itself can become easier. In an act of trust and love for the Father, we can say Yes, as Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane. Such an attitude is called “spirtual sacrifice”: the dying person unites himeself with Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross. Someone who dies this way, trusting in God an dat peace with men, and thus without serious sin, is on the way to communion with the risen Christ. Our dying makes us fall no farther than into his hands. A person who dies does not travel to nowhere but rather goes home into the love of God, who created him.
