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by Graziella Fons

The days of our life have the flow of a river that flows towards the valley, or we can compare them to a block of cheques, which we can spend as we want, but the last one has already stamped the name of the recipient: God. It is the toll on the Giver of Life. 

There is our death, but also that of our loved ones and it is the one that scares us the most and hurts us the most, that of a loved one, like the one who generated us. 

«It is a fracture, an amputation, an event that is always premature however expected; an event that changes time forever, that divides with harsh clarity a before and an after, that leaves us lost to ask: what now? It is the moment of solitude in which to grieve. It is remembering with others what we are heirs of. Tolstoy wrote: "Only those who fail to take root in others die." We cannot fall back on sterile nostalgia, as if to die with our dead, but feel them present because the bonds of affection are not erased, but dwell alongside us. «Life and death are not two equal and opposite forces, but two faces of a single reality and the final word will be life». Saint Augustine said: "Those we love and have lost are no longer where they were, but are wherever we are."

This bond perpetuates the sacrament of Baptism which has grafted us into the very life of God and nothing can ever break this bond. One way of reliving this relationship comes from prayer. Prayer supported by yesterday's closeness becomes communion with our loved ones today. The prayer of suffrage is a plea for happiness and joy for our loved ones: it is not only us who pray for the deceased, but they are also the ones who pray and intercede for us. We are in communion and breathe the same breath: that of God.

Prayer is an embrace that always accompanies us and, above all, it is a supplement of energy in the painful moment of agony. In a recent interview with TV2000 - as we talk about on page... Pope Francis, quoting Saint Therese of Lisieux, recommended everyone to pray for the dying, because... «temptations will accompany us until the last moment. The Saints were tempted until the last moment. Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus said that we must pray a lot for the dying because the devil unleashes a storm of temptations at that moment. And she too - Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus - was also tempted by mistrust, by lack of faith and found her soul as dry as a stone... But she managed to entrust herself to the Lord, without feeling anything, to find relief against this aridity and thus he overcame temptation. And Saint Teresa said that for this reason it is important to pray for the dying."

It is a commitment to communion between Heaven and earth that we must strengthen throughout our lives.