Reflections on Life and Death

us to think more about the life after death than about this world. It should lead us to plan for our future—our future in the life after death, so that we can be saved from a terrible fate, about which the Bible says: There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:42) News of Death C onsider the case of a man in his mid-70s or so. When he was young, he was healthy. But now he suffers from various ailments. These ailments are actually news or a portent of his impending death. However, he does not consider them that way. Instead, he thinks of them simply as a condition that needs to be cured. And so, he goes from doctor to doctor, from one hospital to the next, in search of good treatment, till at last he exhausts all his money. He does not stop there, though. He takes a loan and goes in for an expensive course of treatment. Yet, that, too, fails to cure him. And then, in a short while he dies! This is the story of not just one man, but, rather, of almost every single human being in the world. Old age is for us actually an announcement that death is just round the corner. When you get old, you fall prey to all sorts of ailments. This happens in order to shake you up and make you realize that death is now