"Thinking about our death is not a bad fantasy"; indeed, living each day well as if it were "the last", and not as if this life were "a normality" that lasts forever, may help us to be truly ready when the Lord calls. It is an invitation to serenely recognise the essential truth of our existence that Pope Francis reiterated in the Mass celebrated on Friday morning, 17 November, at Santa Marta.

"In these last two weeks of the liturgical year," he immediately pointed out, "the Church in the readings, in the Mass, makes us reflect on the end". On the one hand, of course, "the end of the world, because the world will collapse, it will be transformed" and there will be "the coming of Jesus, at the end". But, on the other hand, the Church also speaks of 'the end of each of us, because each of us, will die: the Church, as mother, teacher, wants each of us to think about our own death'.

"To me," the Pontiff confided, referring to the Gospel passage from Luke (17:26-37), "what Jesus says in this passage we have read attracts our attention". In particular his answer "when they ask what the end of the world will be like". But in the meantime, the Pope relaunched, following the Lord's words, "let us think about how my end will be". In the Gospel Jesus uses the expressions "as it also happened in the days of Noah" and "as it also happened in the days of Lot". To say, he explained, that men "in those days ate, drank, took wives, took husbands, until the day that Noah entered the ark". And, again, 'as also happened in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built'.

Here, however, continued the Pope, comes "the day when the Lord rains down fire and brimstone from heaven". In short, 'there is normality, life is normal,' Francis pointed out, 'and we are used to this normality: I get up at six, I get up at seven, I do this, I do this job, I visit this tomorrow, Sunday is a holiday, I do this'. And 'so we are used to living a normality of life and we think that this will always be so'. But it will be, the Pontiff added, 'until the day that Noah went up on the ark, until the day that the Lord caused fire and brimstone to fall from heaven'.

For surely "a day will come when the Lord will say to each one of us: 'come'", the Pontiff recalled. And "the call for some will be sudden, for others it will be after an illness, in an accident: we do not know". But 'the call will be there and it will be a surprise: not God's last surprise, after this there will be another - the surprise of eternity - but it will be God's surprise for each of us'.

Regarding the end, he continued, "Jesus has a phrase, we read it yesterday in the Mass: it will be 'like the thunderbolt that shines from one end of the sky to the other, so will be the Son of Man on his day', the day that will knock at our door".

"We are accustomed to this normality of life," Francis continued, "and we think it will always be like this". However, "the Lord, and the Church, says to us in these days: stop a little, stop, it will not always be like this, one day it will not be like this, one day you will be taken away and what is next to you will be left".

"Lord, when will be the day when I will be taken away?": precisely "this," the Pope suggested, "is the question that the Church invites us to ask today and tells us: stop a little and think about your death". This is the meaning of the phrase quoted by Francis, placed at the entrance "in a cemetery, in the north of Italy: 'Pilgrim, you who are passing, think about your steps, the last step'". Because "there will be a last" step.

"This living the normality of life as if it were an eternal thing, an eternity - the Pope explained - is also seen in funeral vigils, in ceremonies, in funeral honours: many times the people who are really involved with that dead person, for whom we pray, are few".

And so 'a wake has usually turned into a social event: "Where are you going today?" - "Today I have to go and do this, this, then to the cemetery because there is the ceremony"". It thus becomes 'one more fact and there we meet friends, we talk: the dead person is there but we talk: normal'. So 'even that transcendent moment, for the way of walking of habitual life, becomes a social fact'. And 'this,' Francis confided, 'I have seen in my homeland: in some funeral wakes there is a reception service, one eats, one drinks, the dead person is there: but here we do a little, I do not say "party", but we talk, mundanely; it is an extra gathering, not to think'.

"Today," the Pontiff affirmed, "the Church, the Lord, with that goodness that he has, says to each one of us: stop, stop, not every day will be like this; do not get used to it as if this were eternity; there will be a day that you will be taken away, the other will remain, you will be taken away. In short, so 'it is to go with the Lord, to think that our life will come to an end, and this is good because we can think it at the beginning of the work: today may be the last day, I don't know, but I will do the work well'. And I will also 'do' well 'in relationships at home, with my parents, with my family: doing well, maybe it will be the last day, I don't know'. We must think the same, Francis continued, "even when we go for a medical examination: will this be one more or will it be the beginning of the last visits?"

"Thinking about death is not an ugly fantasy, it is a reality," the Pontiff insisted, explaining, "Whether it is ugly or not is up to me, how I think about it, but it will be there and there will be the encounter with the Lord: this will be the beauty of death, it will be the encounter with the Lord, it will be he who will come to meet me, it will be he who will say 'come, come, blessed by my Father, come with me'". There is no use saying: "But, Lord, wait, I have to fix this, this". Because anyway "you can't fix anything: on that day whoever will be on the terrace and will have left his things in the house will not come down: where you are, they will take you, you will leave everything".

But 'we will have the Lord, this is the beauty of the encounter', the Pope reassured. "The other day," he added, "I found a priest, more or less 65 years old: he was not feeling well, he went to the doctor", who "after the visit" "told him: 'Look, you have this, this is a bad thing, but maybe we are in time to stop it, we will do this; if you do not stop we will do this other and if you do not stop we will start walking and I will accompany you to the end'". Therefore, Francis commented, 'bravo to that doctor! How sweetly he spoke the truth: let us also accompany each other on this road, let us go together, let us work, let us do good and everything, but always looking there'.

"Let us do this today," the Pope concluded, because "it will do us all good to stop a little and think about the day when the Lord will come to visit me, will come to take me to go to him."

[Pope Francis, s. Marta, in L'Osservatore Romano 18/11/2017]