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5 Things President Monson

Taught Us About Death
by Jenny Spencer| May. 20, 2020
Makes You Think

(Above Photo from Wikimedia Commons.)

While we mourn over President Monson's death, we may also

take a moment to remember things that he taught us about
that portal must all pass through: death. Here are 5 things
President Monson taught us about death and the next life.

1.We all must pass through death.

2015

We are all extremely saddened by the passing of our beloved

prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. But he himself testified
that death is something we all will experience one day in our
journey back to the Father. President Monson said,
Then to each life comes the experience known as death.
None is exempt. All must pass its portals. To most, there is
something sinister and mysterious about this unwelcome
visitor called death. Perhaps it is a fear of the unknown
which causes many to dread its coming.
President Monson assured us that God would never
forsake [us]that He sent His Only Begotten Son into the
world to teach us by example the life we should live. His
Son died upon the cross to redeem all mankind. His words
to the grieving Martha and to His disciples today bring
comfort to us: I am the resurrection, and the life: he that
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never
die.

2.Christ passed through all thingseven death

so that He might save all things.
In another address, President Monson reminded us that even
Christ passed through death so that He would understand us
and our mortal experience perfectly. He said,
Finally, on a hill called Calvary, while helpless followers
looked on, His wounded body was nailed to a cross.
Mercilessly He was mocked and cursed and derided. And
yet He cried out, Father, forgive them; for they know not
what they do.
The agonizing hours passed as His life ebbed. From His
parched lips came the words, Father, into thy hands I
commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the
ghost.
As the serenity and solace of a merciful death freed Him

from the sorrows of mortality, He returned to the presence

of His Father. At the last moment, the Master could have
turned back. But He did not. He passed beneath all things
that He might save all things.

3.Christs peace can abide with and bring comfort

to those who have lost loved ones.
From a very young age, President Monson was always there to
comfort the fatherless and the widows. When he became a
bishop at age 22, he cared for 84 widows in his ward. He
learned firsthand how Christ can bring solace to those in grief.
He later said,
The darkness of death can always be dispelled by the light
of revealed truth. 'I am the resurrection, and the life,'
spoke the Master. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give
unto you.
Over the years I have heard and read testimonies too
numerous to count, shared with me by individuals who
testify of the reality of the Resurrection and who have
received, in their hours of greatest need, the peace and
comfort promised by the Savior.

4.Because of Christ, we will live again.

President Monson continually bore his prophetic witness of
the divinity of our Savior Jesus Christ and His divine
Atonement and Resurrection. Because of His sacrifice for us,
we will all be resurrected and live again.President Monson
proclaimed in one address,
Because our Savior died at Calvary, death has no hold
upon any one of us. My brothers and sisters, we laugh, we
cry, we work, we play, we love, we live. . . . Death claims
the aged, the weary and worn. It visits the youth in the
bloom of hope and the glory of expectation. Nor are little
children kept beyond its grasp. In the words of the Apostle
Paul, It is appointed unto men once to die.

And dead we would remain but for one Man and His
mission, even Jesus of Nazareth.
To all who have lost loved ones, we would turn Jobs
question to an answer: If a man die, he shall live again. We
know, for we have the light of revealed truth. . . .
Through tears and trials, through fears and sorrows,
through the heartache and loneliness of losing loved ones,
there is assurance that life is everlasting. Our Lord and
Savior is the living witness that such is so.

5.We can all be a little more compassionate

toward those who have lost loved ones.
He often testified that we as members can care more for those
who have lost loved ones. He certainly received much
compassion and love when he lost his dear Frances in 2013.
Were grateful he has been reunited with his beautiful eternal
companion. And by following his example, may we all pray a
little more fervently for his close family and the other apostles
at this difficult time. In an address in 1994, President Monson
said,
Let us remember that after the funeral flowers fade, the
well wishes of friends become memories, and the prayers
offered and words spoken dim in the corridors of the
mind. Those who grieve frequently find themselves alone.
Missed is the laughter of children, the commotion of
teenagers, and the tender, loving concern of a departed
companion. The clock ticks more loudly, time passes more
slowly, and four walls do indeed a prison make.
Hopefully, all of us may again hear the echo of words
spoken by the Master, inspiring us to good deeds:
Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these
. . . ye have done it unto me.
I express my sincere appreciation to one and all who are
mindful of the widow. To the thoughtful neighbors who

invite a widow to dinner and to that royal army of noble

women, the visiting teachers of the Relief Society, I add,
may God bless you for your kindness and your love
unfeigned toward her who reaches out and touches
vanished hands and listens to voices forever stilled.

Final Testimony
He constantly bore to us his solemn testimony that God lives,
that Jesus was and is the Living Christ, and that through His
Atonement and Resurrection, we all may see our loved ones
againincluding our beloved prophet, Thomas S. Monson. His
last testimony to us was: