“Be calm! Be happy!”: St. Josemaria on Fear of Death

October 29, 1972 | Spain

In this video from a get-together with St. Josemaria, he answers a question from a woman who has some fears about death. St. Josemaria replied:

[Audio Translation] “My daughter, why are you going to fear it, since it comes inexorably and it opens us for us the doors to life? Afterwards we do not die any more, my daughter. Be calm! Be happy! When it comes, it comes because we are ripe for heaven. Be calm. Don’t be afraid. I pray a lot for you. Tomorrow at Mass, I will ask our Lord… It’s natural. It’s a hard blow, no? But I am used to seeing people die with a smile on their lips. And, once I asked, “But my son, do you want to die?” “Father, whatever God wants. If he wants to cure me, he will cure me. If he takes me, I will be delighted.” And you will say the same thing to those who are around you. Don’t worry. Death should not make you sad, because death takes you to the arms of God; it takes you to Love.”

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION & PRAYER

• “I was delighted to see that you understood what I had said to you: you and I have to work and live and die like people in love, and we will live in this way for all eternity.” | The Forge, no. 988
• “When you think about death, do not be afraid, in spite of your sins…For he already knows that you love him… and what stuff you are made of. —If you seek him, he will welcome you as the father welcomed the prodigal son; but you have to seek him!” | Furrow, no. 881
• “Nam, et si ambulavero in medio umbrae mortis, non timebo mala — though I should walk through the valley of the shadow of death, no evil will I fear. Neither my wretchedness nor the temptations of the enemy will worry me, quoniam tu mecum es — for you Lord are with me.” | The Forge, no. 194
• “The thought of death will help you to grow in the virtue of charity, for it might be that this particular instant in which you are together with one person or another is the last one… They, or you, or I, could be gone at any moment.” | Furrow, no. 895
• “Many people have spoken to me in amazement of the joy which, thanks be to God, my children in Opus Dei have and which they spread to others. Faced with this evident truth, I always give the same reply, because I know no other. Their happiness has its foundation in the fact that they fear neither life nor death; that they are not overwhelmed when they meet with misfortune; that they strive daily to live with a spirit of sacrifice, in spite of their own defects and weaknesses, and they are constantly ready to deny themselves in order to make the Christian path easier and more pleasant for others.” | Friends of God, no. 132