Everything that matters is tied to death. Forgiveness, resolving differences,* healing hurts. When death looms, we suddenly remember the only thing that matters is love. If only death were always with us we would finally learn how to love.

But wait, it is.

At this very moment, each us is dying. Even “in the midst of life, we are in death” (The Book of Common Prayer). It’s almost as if, by creating death, God has said, “Do I have to kill you to get you to love? Then so be it. Now start loving each other before it’s too late.”

*Above is a news photo of a California father and son, long-separated by religious differences, reunited at the time of the son’s death (names withheld for privacy).