“How unreasonable it is to pray that God’s will be done, and then not promptly obey it when he calls us from this world! Instead we struggle and resist like self-willed slaves and are brought into the Lord’s presence with sorrow and lamentation, not freely consenting to our departure, but constrained by necessity. And yet we expect to be rewarded with heavenly honors by him to whom we come against our will!” (St. Cyprian)

To be afraid of the unknown surrounding death is normal. To fight the process of death is not for one who hopes to see God face to face. Maybe this is the key to the fear. We are aware of our lack of intimate love of God and afraid of how he will receive us. The way to deal with this is to use the time before death (which is unknown how much we have) to grow in love with God, if we truly wish to be with him eternally. We can't wait till the last moment of earthly life. Knowing his love for us and knowing the eternal consequences of our choices, now is the time to respond, as if there is no more time for us. Truly loving God now will enable us to see the object of our love without fear.