Saint John Henry Newman, writing in the late 1800’s, provided a helpful understanding of how a monk faces the reality of death in his life:

To the monk, heaven was next door; he formed no plans, had no cares; the ravens of his father Benedict were ever at his side. He went forth in his youth to his work and to his labor until the evening of life; if he lived a day longer, he did a day’s work more; whether he lived many days or few, he labored on to the end of them. He had no wish to see further in advance of his journey than where he was to make his next stage. He plowed and sowed, he prayed, he meditated, he studied, he wrote, he taught, and then he died and went to heaven.

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