At a time of deception, it is important to follow the Church first and foremost, along with the Bible, when it comes to issues of death and the afterlife. Invoke the Blessed Mother. Meditate on the final words of the Hail Mary! Look for Jesus, and throughout life, ask your angel to be there.

Beautiful was the recent story of a Fort Wayne, Indiana, girl, Kelleeanne Jackson, who nearly drowned but was revived in the ambulance after paramedics thought they heard her last breath. “I went to Heaven,” claimed the child after. “I sat on Gabriel’s lap. My dog that died ran to me. I saw my ancestors. I told Gabriel, ‘I miss my family,’ and he said he loved me, and [removed] me off his lap.”

The sound of a child’s imagination – but for its close similarities to adult experiences.

There is the Catholic aspect that must be followed, and let’s note that a “tunnel”-like phenomenon, so prevalent in cases of clinical death, also has been reported by seers of the Blessed Mother.

The point is that there is a whisking from one place – a physical place – to another.

The important point also is that we want to avoid a fearful (or even mildly unnerving) transition.

This is not only possible but exactly what we should spend our lives aiming for: a beautiful passage.

We can all achieve it.

Everyone reading this has time.

What it takes is viewing every moment as if it is your last, which makes you strive for purity. In your life review, the Lord will most intently focus on how you were most recently. He is on your side. He is not a prosecutor.

But He is an evaluator and thus we should exercise in life only the thoughts, words, and actions for which we would want to be remembered, and detach ourselves from obsessions.

Live every moment as if you are dying and you will be more alive than ever.

Watch fear dissipate.

That’s not to say that death will be without pain, nor some anxiety. Any such is possible. To the final moment, there are the trials of life. Often, pain is the thing that finally purifies us.

But so merciful is God that many are those who say they left their bodies before the trauma that ended their lives –  before they actually drowned, before the final moment of an accident.

“I was on a rafting trip with friends when we came upon heavy rapids,” noted one account. “We tried to avoid them, but were sucked into the whirlpool. My raft capsized and I was sucked under the water for about twenty seconds, the first time.

“I popped out and was then pulled down again for about thirty seconds.

“I started to panic, fearing death by drowning. I popped out again and was thrown against a rock only to be pulled down again.

“At that time, my spirit was out of my body and I was watching myself struggle under the water. At first I was afraid, but almost at the same time I felt a calm all over me. I was at the same level in the water, about six feet from my body, watching myself and two of the other people who were struggling under the water. I believe this continued for about thirty seconds until I was once again thrown against a rock. When I hit the rock for the final time, my spirit popped back into my body. Since this experience I have a better understanding of life and my personal purpose.”

In His mercy, God often removes the terror that we usually associate with death.

“In October of 2000, I had a car accident,” said another. “Although I knew I would die some day I was in utter shock that it could be then. At that time I had absolutely no doubt that I wouldn't walk away from it. Then my mind screamed, ‘I'm going to die right now!’ My shock turned to absolute fear and pure horror. I have never felt such intense fear in my life. As I said, I have no visual memory as this is happening. It's as if I was in a dark void. I have no recollection of having any type of form, just thought.

“Then a calming voice communicated into my mind the thought, ‘Yes, but it’s okay.’

“I was immersed, engulfed by total love, totally enveloped by this Divine Presence in a way that I simply can't put into words in a way that anyone would understand unless they had the same experience.”

[adapted from The Other Side]

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