them; and dying persons also look forward and ask what kind of future they have. I devote chapter 4 to the task of looking back in repentance. In my view, penitence must be the first attitude with which we look back upon our lives, since God knows all the wounds we have caused and Christ commands us to “repent” (Mark 1:15). Then in chapter 5 I focus on the task of looking back upon our life with gratitude. In all things, gratitude to God for all his gifts—preeminently for the gift of knowing the
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