Why is death so hard, so terrible a thing? -Martin Von Cochem

Everyone shrinks instinctively from death, because it is bitter, and painful beyond description to human nature.The soul of  man is subject to many anxieties, apprhensions and sorrows, and the body is subject to pain and sickness of all kinds, yet none of these pains can be compared to the agony of death. A man who loses his good name and property feels acute grief, but he does not die of it. All suffering and sickness, all grief and anguish, however terrible, is less bitter than death. Hence, we see death to be a mighty monarch, the most cruel, the most relentless, the most formidable enemy of mankind. Look at a man wrestling with death, and you will see how the tyrant overpowers, disfigures, and prostrates his victim.

Now, why is death so hard, so terrible a thing? It is because the soul has to separate itself from the body. Body and soul were created for each other, and so intimate is their union that a parting between them seems almost impossible. They would endure almost anything rather than be torn asunder. And if people apparently pass away most peacefully, this is because nature, exhausted by suffering, has no longer the force to struggle with death. Our Redeemer was tortured in a terrible manner, yet all the martyrdom He endured was not compared with what He suffered at the moment of His death….when the moment came for Him to expire, and the ruthless hand of death rent His heart  asunder, we read that He cried out with a loud voice and gave up the ghost.

According to Pope St. Gregory; “Christ’s conflict with death represented our last conflict, teaching us that the agony of death is the keenest agony that man has ever felt or will ever feel. Wherefore, O christian, accept your destiny cheerfully and form a steadfast resolution to bear unmurmuringly the bitterness of death. For it is a great merit to yield up one’s life everyman loves so well – and submit with ready and willing mind to the pangs of death.

An excerpt from the “Four Last Things” by Martin Von Cochem