Why should anyone fear death? It’s as natural as the rain and inevitable like the sunset. Yet, as our time approaches so do our fears.
 

As young children playing and exploring the world, we don’t think about our mortality any more than we know what mortality means. A child might never know death until a grandparent or a pet passes away. That’s when our fears of death begin.
 

The first thing we learn about death is that all living creatures die, us included. But, initially, that doesn’t raise fears so much as awareness and concern. We first learn to fear death when we encounter it with a loved one who has just passed. That’s when we come face to face with the inevitability of death and how it makes us feel powerless.
 

While pondering the inevitability of our own mortality, we cannot know how or when the end will come, we only know that the end is certain. The fact that we are going to die is known to us for most of our lives, yet how much do we do to prepare for our deaths? As far as wealth, property, inheritance and material things go, we prepare well enough. When it come to life, love, loved ones and our memories of them, we sometimes prepare poorly.
 

We can best prepare ourselves for death by remembering what is most important, both in this life and the next – that is, God’s love! Our love for each other!
 

It’s also important to remember that it is not death itself that we fear. What we fear more than death is the time and mystery of our death. What do I mean?
 

If I say to you, ‘you are going to die’, do you start to panic, shake, sweat and tremble? No, you might shrug it off as common knowledge – everybody dies. But, if the doctor said to you, ‘you have one month to live’, you might start to panic, shake, sweat and tremble. Then, what if the doctor is wrong.
 

What we fear most is not knowing how or when we will die. It’s human nature to fear what we don’t understand. We don’t truly understand death and we can’t predict our own death, so fears arise.
 

If I was able to predict the future and I told you that on this certain date in the future you will die of natural causes while sleeping and you won’t even know that you have died, perhaps then your fears would subside. On the other hand, if I told you that you will die of a heart attack in forty-two years, you might think that you have enough time and that you will change your lifestyle and habits and prevent the heart attack. You would be motivated by a fear of that kind of death, but that could never prevent your death.
 

Did Jesus fear death? Sort of – a part of Jesus did doubt and fear.
 

“Father," he prayed, "my Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want.", Mark 14:36
 

Even though Jesus told the disciples that He would suffer, die and rise again after three days, still, His human part feared His suffering and death.
 

“At about three o'clock Jesus cried out with a loud shout, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why did you abandon me?", Mathew 27:46
 

Was Jesus abandoned by God, His Father? Certainly not! But, Jesus’ human part doubted and feared being forsaken.
 

God didn’t abandon Jesus and He doesn’t abandon us either. Think about the ‘Footprints In The Sand’ poem, ending with, "My son, my precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you." - authorship is contentious.
 

The next time someone asks, why do innocent people suffer, or why do bad things happen to good people or why do so many people die in disasters, etc., remember, God has not abandoned any of them.
 

It is never God who abandons us, it’s always us who abandon God. When Jesus prayed to God to let the cup pass, that was Jesus’ human part doubting God. When Jesus was on the cross wondering if His Father had forsaken Him, that was Jesus’ human part forsaking God.
 

We know that our time as human beings is limited, that’s not too scary. We don’t know when our time is up or how it will happen, that’s quite scary, but it need not be.
 

That’s why God gave us Faith.
 

In our death, there’s nothing to fear, but our fear. What we should fear is time, because we only have a limited amount of time in this life. Time is a human concept and it will become irrelevant in the everlasting life.
 

Time wants to kill us all, but really, we need to kill time, for all time. How do we kill time? By praying for God’s love and blessings, mercy and forgiveness, at this time and when our time is up.
 

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
 

Evil created time and death. Jesus will end all three, in His time.
 

Heaven = Life - time.