How Do Rulers Die?

When King Philip III of Spain lay on his deathbed, he exclaimed shortly before dying: “I beg you, my good friends, that in the sermon at my funeral nothing be preached except how those who govern die. Let it be said that death serves rulers only to give them greater responsibility for what they have been and done. Would that I, instead of being king, had lived in a desert praying and serving God. I would go with much greater confidence to present myself before God’s judgment, and I would not have so many responsibilities to be judged for.”

Years earlier this man’s father, King Philip II of Spain, had called his son to him moments before dying and, showing him his body covered in sores, said: “Look, my son, how the greatness of the world dies and comes to an end.” And he added: “Would that, instead of being king, I had been a simple lay brother in a religious community. Son, I wanted you to be present at this moment so that you may see how the world treats even its most powerful rulers. Death comes to those who govern as it does to the poorest on earth. Here, whoever has done the most good works in his life and tried to live most holily will be the one who obtains the greatest favors from God.”

Saint Alphonsus Liguori says in his book Preparation for Death: “The ancients called the day of death ‘the day of great losses,’ because on that day we lose the material riches we have, the pleasures we liked to enjoy, the honors we won through our works and all other earthly goods. That is why Saint Ambrose said that we cannot call any of these goods ‘ours,’ because we cannot take them with us when we die. And that the only things that truly belong to us are our good works, because they will go with us beyond the grave.”

Saint Antoninus tells that when the emperor Alexander the Great died, a philosopher said: “He who yesterday trod proudly upon the earth is now covered by it. Yesterday the whole earth was not enough for his desire for dominion; today two meters of earth are enough to cover him. Yesterday he led countless armies across the world; today a few gravediggers carry him to the tomb.” That is how the glories of this world end.

Last August Benedict XVI met at Castel Gandolfo with a group of Christian politicians taking part in the International Christian Democrat meeting, an organization led by Pier Ferdinando Casini, leader of the Italian Union of the Centre party, which represents more than a hundred political parties. There the Pope quoted a passage from the Book of Wisdom: “A severe judgment falls on those in high places” (Wis 6:5), and told them they should interpret that passage not as a threat but as an encouragement for governments to carry out, at every level, “all the possibilities for good of which they are capable, according to the measure and mission that the Lord entrusts to each one.”

That is what death is like. On the day it comes to us (and we do not know when, how or where it will be) and we are buried (all of us alike, only in different coffins, some more expensive than others), the only things we will take with us are what we are wearing and our good works. Those works are the only things that will count when we answer Christ: what did we do with the power and the talents he gave us? And as Sacred Scripture says: “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more” (Luke 12:48).

Saint Augustine told the people: “Do not think only of the heap of riches that man has. Think rather of what he will take with him on the day of his death.” When death comes, the only thing we take with us is Love. The Love we gave, the Love we sowed, the Love that helped us empty ourselves of so many superfluous and passing things so that we could devote ourselves to living to serve others, as our Lord Jesus Christ taught. To live knowing that the more talents and power God has given us in this life, the more we will have to give an account when we meet him face to face at the gates of Heaven.

If all rulers, and all people with power on this earth, lived with this in mind, perhaps the world would be a little better. Don’t you think so?