Aurelio Porfiri
I was struck by the words of the former soccer champion Gianluca Vialli, who we all know is suffering from a serious illness. In a recent statement, he said he was aware that he would not be allowed to reach old age. We are struck by hearing someone saying these words because this puts death, the great unnameable, at the center of the discussion.
A book like A Bet on Death by Vittorio Messori served precisely to put death and “its imminence” at the center of the discourse. And I speak of imminence because in reality none of us know the day and the hour. It could be tomorrow, it could be 50 years from now.
Here the Gospel (Mt 25:1-13) comes to our aid: “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.Five of them were foolish and five were wise.The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
“‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
“Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
“But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”
The imminence of death must not turn into a neurosis or terror, as often happens, but it must push us to stay awake, prepared to wait for the bridegroom who comes. With Martin Heidegger we could say that we are called to choose our authentic life over an inauthentic one, to recognize that death is the final fulfilment. “Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death,/from whom no living man can escape./Woe to those who die in mortal sin./Blessed are those whom death will find in Your most holy will,/for the second death shall do them no harm,” as St. Francis sang (“Canticle of the Sun,” lines 27-31). I am not saying that it is easy to acquire this full awareness, but it will be a spiritual achievement that will affect every minute of our time on this earth.
(Image: geralt at Pixabay.com)
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