ThIS IS YOUR DEATH

Hello. It is so good to meet you. I have been waiting for you. We will have a little chat. I have a few simple questions And we will briefly examine your life. Then you can go on to your JUST reward. Hehehe.

GRIM REAPER: Now Hal, let me see, ah yes, you were 46 years old at the time of your demise. Alas, so young, so much potential, poor fellow. According to the records you made a pretty good living. In fact, you had worked your way up to vice president of the company. Hum, I guess you literally, worked yourself to DEATH. Hehehaha. That's just a little attempt at humor. You cannot imagine how tedious this job of mine can be sometimes. And there is so little that is new under the sun.

HAL: Ah, sir, where exactly am I? I was at work just a little bit ago. The last I recall I was having some chest pains, then I must have blacked out.

GRIM REAPER: Come, come, my good fellow-- are you not listening to me? You are DEAD, GONE, KICKED THE BUCKET.

HAL: Oh, yeah, I guess I'm just having a hard time getting used to this. I've never died before, OR HAVE I?

GRIM REAPER: Have you died before? Hum, I see what you mean, reincarnation. No, sir, you have never died before. Muhahaha! That is a good one. Have you never noticed that everyone with a so-called previous life was always a great historical figure? That was the sure giveaway that the whole business was fake. Of course, if such had been part of the scenerio, it would have been poetic justice for some to come back as roaches or leeches or something even more offensive. Can you imagine? "Hey honey, put down that can of insect poison, you might be killing Uncle Fred or dear Grandmama!" Hahaha. Or what about abortion? I can see it now. Alice rests upon the therapist's couch and tells him all about her past lives, as a fetus murdered in the womb or as an infant left to die from exposure and neglect. Muhahaha! You people are so silly.

HAL: How did I die?

GRIM REAPER: Let me check, (rustling some papers), it appears that you had a massive heart attack. You were dead when you hit the floor. Oh well, here today, gone TODAY. This is the first day of the rest of your death.

HAL: This is a bit of a shock. Now what happens?

GRIM REAPER: As I began, I shall ask your questions and make some observations. I'll begin. First, what is your faith?

HAL: I am a Catholic.

GRIM REAPER: Are you now? That is very well, but what is your faith?

HAL: I don't understand.

GRIM REAPER: No you don't, too bad. (pause)

HAL: Aren't you going to explain?

GRIM REAPER: What is there to explain? I ask you about your faith and you tell me you are affiliated with the Church. But the question demands something more. My second question is this, what is your work?

HAL: You know that already, I am an executive at a publishing firm.

GRIM REAPER: That is not what I mean.

HAL: Please, make yourself plain.

GRIM REAPER: I assure you, there is nothing CRYPTIC in what I am asking. My next question is this, what is the love of your life?

HAL: Well, my girlfriend Susan means a lot to me.

GRIM REAPER: Yes, I guess she does-- much more than your wife anyway.  Okay, I think I have heard enough. (He opens a sealed envelope that suddenly appears in the air.) The Master has rendered a verdict. Are you ready?

HAL: Verdict? What have I done? You did not say that I was on trial. Aren't we going to examine my life?

GRIM REAPER: I tried, but there was not much about it worthy of mentioning.

HAL: How can you say that. I am an important man.

GRIM REAPER: Yes, you are important, everyone is important. But, you are not God. The letter is quite clear in its directions, "Go to hell." I am sorry.

HAL: What? I am a good man! Some mistake has been made!

GRIM REAPER: We do not make mistakes, Hal. Since you insist in this charade, I will offer some elaboration. However, you already well know that the verdict is just. I asked you about your faith. You should have spoken about a faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, the one who shed his blood for you on Calvary. However, while a Catholic, you rarely attended Mass and never prayed. You saw such things as a waste of your time. You were a Christian in name only. Next I asked about your work. You gave me your job position. You should have told me about how you allowed the presence of Christ by grace in your soul to continue his saving ministry in your life. But, there was no grace and no merit of measure. Your works are adultery and mammon. Remember nothing is now hidden. All is glass. The final question was about love. You do not love God, so how could you possibly allow divine love to spill over into a love for your fellow men. Your love is lust-- for sex-- for power-- for self. Even your business sells a large line of erotica that exploits the bodies of others. No, Hal, no mistake has been made.

HAL: I'm sorry, I really am, please, give me another chance. Please, I beg you.

GRIM REAPER: Nothing would change. It is not simply what you did it is who you have become. Really you would prefer hell to heaven.

HAL: How could I?

GRIM REAPER: Heaven is the perfection of the great joining with God. Such is not possible unless you freely choose to love him. This you will never do. There is nothing left to you that might be purified by the fire of divine love. You have sinned GRAVELY against God and neighbor. Ultimately, you have even sinned against yourself. Before you died you were already dead. You were a walking and talking corpse. Physical death has simply made the condition permanent.

HAL: But I never killed anybody. I don't even hate anybody.

GRIM REAPER: Sometimes not caring about others is no better. That in itself is murder.

HAL: I gave to the local clothing drive. That should count for something.

GRIM REAPER: Yes, you gave, something you did not want. Afterwards, you claimed it as a tax write-off and at a much exaggerated amount.

HAL: Oh my goodness, no!

GRIM REAPER: Oh yes, and there is nothing of goodness about it.

HAL: This cannot be!

GRIM REAPER: Can it not? You have finally encountered what must be, true reality, no more shadows. That is why you rebel against the light. Heaven would blind you. You would cry out for the gloom of hell. You would beg to exchange the windows of heaven for the mirrors of hell.

HAL: I do not care what you say! You are wrong!

GRIM REAPER: Ultimately, you never cared about anyone or anything but yourself. When you separated yourself from the poor and the little ones of the world, you separated yourself from Christ. You died in mortal sin. Remember your catechism as a boy? You know what that means, I am sure. Your soul is dark and dead. You failed to repent and to accept the mercy of Christ. This was your FREE CHOICE. It is not heaven that bars its doors to you, it is yourself.

A large black pit opens between them.

GRIM REAPER: It is time. Now your mind and heart will open fully to your identity. No one will push you into the pit. If you are truly destined for heaven as you claim, we shall now see. Goodbye to illusions. May the shadows fully part.

A visible change takes place in Hal and his smile is replaced by a snarl.

HAL: (chanting mechanically) I am sin. I am hate. I am spite. I am my own hell.

He leaps into the bottomless hole and disappears.

GRIM REAPER: Goodbye, Hal. You should have known better. "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love remains in death. Any one who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, that he [Jesus] laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But if any one has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth" (1 John 3:14-18).

Pause

GRIM REAPER: Oh well, NEXT . . . Muhahaha!