The Resurrection And Everlasting Life

 

Now that Jesus has died for us and risen in glory, the gates of Paradise that had been closed to us because of Adam and Eve’s sin have been opened up again. Not only do we have hope of living beyond this life, we have the hope that it will be a glorious, joyful existence. We won’t just be souls drifting along aimlessly in a gray mist. But we hope to be resurrected- both body and soul- to rejoice in the presence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for all eternity.

 The sad thing is that, even though it has been almost two-thousand years since Jesus rose from the dead, most people still live as if this world is all that there is. They are not even thinking about life after death. Their only hope is in this world and what it offers. In their minds, earth is the only Paradise we can ever know. The only thing that makes sense to them is to live for today.

 However, as Christians, the resurrection of Jesus Christ has opened up a new horizon for us. There is more to our existence than just our earthly life. Our eyes are fixed on more than what this world can offer. Rather, our goal is eternal life with Jesus. That is what we strive for. That is where our hope lies.

 Saint Paul tells us in Sunday’s second reading, “So, if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col 3:1-2 RSV). 

This is the wonderful truth that we proclaim. Our resurrection from the dead and the eternal life that Jesus has won for us is not just a future event. It is not like a ticket we cash in on only after we die. It is a reality that we are already living because of our baptism. That is why Saint Paul can say, “SINCE you have been raised.” He doesn’t say WHEN you are raised or UNTIL you are raised. He talks about it as a reality that has already happened. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead opened up a new possibility of life which is ours through baptism and faith.

 This is how Saint Paul puts it in his letter to the Galatians, “...I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2: 19b-20 RSV).

Our life here on this earth is an extension of the risen life of Jesus Christ. If we have been baptized, then Christ is living in us. It is Jesus’ breath in our lungs. It is His strength in our limbs. It is His love beating in our hearts and His hope running through our veins. We have been raised with Jesus, so our faith is what must guide us.

Keeping Death In Mind

When flying back from his apostolic trips around the world, Pope Francis has made it a custom to speak with journalists on the plane. On one flight, a reporter asked him where he found the energy at his age to keep up with such a hectic schedule. The Holy Father replied that he knew his time was short and that there was still much he needed to do. He explained that keeping in mind how little time he had left on earth energized him through all the appearances, speeches and ceremonies that make up his schedule.

It is natural for a man in his 70’s, like the Holy Father, to be thinking about the end of his life. But, the truth is that none of us knows how long our lives will be. What Jesus says in today’s gospel about the end of the world could also be said about the end of our earthly lives: “...of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” For some of us, our lives will be much longer than we imagine. Others of us would be shocked to know how little time we have left.

As Christians, it is important for us to keep death in mind. It reminds us that we are not meant for this world alone but for eternal life in heaven. Therefore, we set our hearts not on the things of this world but on the realities which are eternal. As Jesus tells us in today’s gospel, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Our short life on earth is a preparation for an everlasting life of joy with our Lord. As people of faith, therefore, we do not look on our imminent death with fear or loathing but with hope. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church instructs us: “The Christian who unites his own death to that of Jesus views it as a step towards him and an entrance into everlasting life.” (1020)

Inspired, then, by the hope of everlasting life that Jesus won for us by His death and resurrection and by the words He speaks to us in the gospel, let us take this opportunity to reflect on two of the realities that await us after death - judgement and Purgatory.

The first reality after death is judgement. Each of us, at the moment of our death, will stand before the judgement seat of Christ to give an account of our lives. Every choice we have made, the intentions of our hearts and the desires that drove us will lay bare before ourselves and our Creator. There will be no time to make excuses or to try to justify what we have done or have failed to do. We will have no choice but to stand under the light of truth. It is an ominous thought. The fact is that very few of us will have enough good deeds to overshadow the selfish and hurtful choices we have made. Our only hope will be to trust in our Heavenly Father’s mercy. He is more just and loving than any human judge could be. We can trust Him to understand and forgive just as long as we have the humility to see ourselves as we really are.

During our lives, then, we should always bear in mind that we will one day stand before Jesus to give an account of our use of the gifts He has given us. Whenever we weigh a decision we should ask ourselves how we would explain our choice to Jesus. Most especially, we should make use of the Sacrament of Confession as frequently as possible. Admitting our sinfulness and weakness and accepting God’s mercy and forgiveness is a way of settling out of court rather than facing the full sentence. When we confess our sins, God promises not to hold them against us. Also, through this powerful sacrament, we receive the power to avoid temptation in the future and the wisdom to make good choices. If we make it a habit of examining our consciences regularly and confessing our sins frequently, then we will stand before the judgement seat of Christ with that much more peace and confidence.

If we die without serious sin on our conscience, we can be assured of reaching Heaven. However, we may still have some inclination toward sin in our soul. We may still have desires in our heart which make us more susceptible to temptation. In that case, we will require one more act of mercy on God’s behalf before we can enter the perfect life of Heaven. That last act of mercy we call - “Purgatory”. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us: “All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.” (1030)

The simplest way to put it is - We will all be perfect in Heaven. However, few of us will be perfect when we die. Purgatory is the place where we are made perfect before entering the bliss of Heaven.

The Church has always believed that we can assist the souls in Purgatory through our prayers, our sacrifices and by offering Masses for their eternal rest. This is a beautiful act of mercy we can perform for those who have gone before us. It unites us to them through love and gives us the hope that they will assist us with their prayers once they have reached Paradise. Everyday, we should make it a point to say a prayer for our loved ones who have died and also for those who have no one to pray for them. We should also make a point of teaching our children about this pious practice so that they will pray for us after we have passed away.

As Christians, we keep the reality of our death ever in mind because we look forward in hope to the everlasting life of Heaven. That does not mean that we do not enjoy our lives on earth. Every day is a gift from God. We should thank Him for it and use it to draw closer to Him. God does not want us to live in fear but to trust in His goodness, love and mercy. If we do so, then we can feel confident when we stand before Him because we will not be relying on our own goodness but on His.

Heaven Runs On Love

A Catholic school teacher invited her pastor to visit her classroom and answer questions her students had been asking about heaven.

In the course of the conversation, one young man asked, “If God loves us and wants us to be  with Him in heaven, why didn’t He just put us there already instead of making us live on earth?”

The pastor explained it by comparing the situation to a child who was about to inherit his family business. Would it make any sense, he asked them, for the father to give his child the business before he had learned to read and write or before he knew how to add or subtract? No matter how much he may love his son, would it make any sense to let him run the business before he understood the product they were manufacturing and what went into bringing it to market? If he were to give it to his son before he was ready to run it, both his son and the company would suffer.

He went on to explain that it is the same with heaven. It is not just a place but an activity, the activity of loving God with all our hearts, minds, souls and strength. To be ready for eternal life in God’s presence, we must learn first to love Him above all things. Just as a son is not ready to inherit his father’s business until he can learn how to add and subtract, so we cannot enter into Paradise until we learn how to love.

Jesus tells us in today’s gospel that the greatest commandment is that we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. It is a commandment that we have heard often and, like the scribe, we can wholeheartedly agree with Jesus that there is nothing more important than love. But what does it mean to love God above all things? How can we know that we have reached such a love?

Jesus answers that question for us by linking our love of God to our love of neighbor. We know that we love God if we also love others. As Saint John tells us, we cannot love the God we do not see if we hate the neighbor we do see. Therefore, our love of God is not measured by those we love the most - our families and friends. They are easy to love. As Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount, “If you love those who love you, what merit is there in that? Pagans and tax collectors do the same.” Rather, our love for God is measured by those we love the least. It is measured by the concern we have for the poor who cannot repay us. It is measured by the attention we give to the sick who are pushed aside and forgotten. It is measured by our willingness to forgive those who hate and hurt us. If we want to know how much we love God, it is there that we must look.

Like faith, such love is a gift from God. Loving those who do not love us does not come naturally to us. It is difficult for us to look past our own interests to the needs of others. It can only come as a gift of grace. Nonetheless, it is absolutely necessary if we are to reach our eternal destiny of everlasting life with God.

How can we receive this gift? First of all, it comes to us through prayer. When we reflect on how much God has loved us, when we consider that He sent His only Son to die for us, when we consider all the blessings He gives us, we cannot help but love Him in return. As Saint John says, love consists not in that we have loved God but that He has loved us. We also grow in love by reflecting on how each person is made in the image and likeness of God and on how He loves all people without distinction. As that reality sinks into our minds and hearts, we also find it easier to love others no matter their race, religion, social status or political beliefs. Out of love for God, we can even find it possible to love and forgive those who do not love us in return.

We also grow in love by keeping the commandments. Jesus tells us that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. Though love of God and neighbor are the greatest commandments, they do not mean that the others are not important. All of God’s laws,  and in turn, all of the Church’s rules, are meant to teach us what it means to love. As Moses tells the Israelites in today’s first reading, by observing God’s law we grow and prosper in the land He has given us. We can measure our love of God, then, in our willingness to keep His word. If Jesus founded the Church, then we can also say that we can measure our love of God in our willingness to follow what the Church teaches us is necessary to believe. They are all given to us not to limit our freedom or take away our pleasure, but to instruct us in what it means to love so that we will be prepared not only to flourish in this life but to enjoy eternal life with our loving Father.

Heaven runs on love. When we love others from our heart, we bring a bit of heaven to this hurting world. As we grow in our ability to love, we also prepare ourselves for our eternal destiny. The Eucharist we are about to receive is also all about love. It is the Body and Blood of Jesus given to us out of love. He died for all people - both those who would come to love Him in return and those who would reject His offer of salvation. Through this Sacrament, we are strengthened to do the same - to love all persons without distinction and without limits - until we reach our destiny where love reigns supreme.

Saints Make Earth A Better Place As Thy Strive For Heaven

There is no doubt that the teaching of Jesus is misunderstood and mischaracterized in our world today. We only have to watch the news or read the newspaper to see how true that is. Everyone in the media has an opinion about the Church and it is more often than not based on some misunderstanding of her doctrine or history.

One of the most common mischaracterizations of Christians is that, because we believe in life after death, we do not make the most of our time on earth. Instead of going out and helping people, we are waiting for Jesus to someday make everything right at the end of the world. We are more than willing to allow suffering in our lives and injustice in our world because somehow God will make up for it in heaven. We are told that if Christians did not believe in heaven and the end of the world then we would work harder to make this world a better place.

Of course, if this were true, then we would see atheists and unbelievers taking the lead in serving the poor, sheltering the homeless and educating the young. However, when we look around, all the great and enduring charitable institutions were started by people of faith. Universities and schools throughout the world dedicated to educating the disadvantaged are mostly staffed by those who are motivated by their belief in a good and loving God. Everyday, Christians are hard at work visiting prisons, advocating for human rights and taking in the abandoned. Rather than sitting on their hands waiting for God to straighten everything out in the hereafter, people of faith are hard at work to make real what we pray in the Our Father - “your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

This feast of All Saints offers us an opportunity to look back and celebrate all the great women and men who took seriously the words of today’s gospel. They were the poor in spirit who sought nothing more than the Kingdom of heaven. They were those who hungered and thirst for righteousness and wanted nothing more than to have God satisfy their longing. They were the ones who showed mercy to their neighbors because they had experienced God’s mercy. They were the peacemakers in whom our Heavenly Father’s love was so real that they were called “children of God.” They worked for justice and peace to the point of being persecuted and even put to death. Experiencing our Heavenly Father’s love and goodness, they wanted nothing more than to share it with others. Even while they looked forward to a heavenly reward and a final judgment, they strove to bring love and mercy to all those who were suffering around them.

Today we remember and celebrate women like Catherine McAuley, the foundress of the Sisters of Mercy. She was a wealthy woman who lived in Ireland in the nineteenth century. However, she could not enjoy her money when so many people around her were living in poverty. In hopes of making a difference, she spent her inheritance to establish a “house of mercy” in Dublin to house and educate young women. Inspired by her good works, other women joined her and, encouraged by the Archbishop of Dublin, they formed a religious order known today as the “Sisters of Mercy”. Soon, houses of mercy were established throughout Ireland and England from which they spread out to other countries all with a mission to serve the poor.

We remember and celebrate women like Saint Marianne Cope. Born in Germany, she soon immigrated to the United States where she worked in a factory. Then, joining a Franciscan order, she began teaching in Catholic schools. Inspired by the work of Saint Damien of Molokai with lepers in Hawaii, she volunteered to go there herself. Along with two other sisters, she started a home for girls with leprosy who had been abandoned by their families. She was known not only for her goodness but for her sense of humor. To make her homes places of joy and laughter, she encouraged the young women to dress in bright colors. She was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.

Catherine McAuley and Marianne Cope are just two of the thousands of saints whose lives and faith we honor today. There are many millions more whose names we will never know but who nonetheless worked to bring God’s love to those who suffer. We might look at all that they accomplished and think that we could never be like them. However, every one of them were just like us - sinners redeemed by God’s love and mercy. They simply trusted God and dedicated themselves to doing whatever He asked of them. To be saints ourselves, all we need do is say “yes” to whatever God asks of us bringing to life the words of the Our Father - “your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

As believers, we look forward to the inheritance that awaits us in heaven. We long for the day when we will join the saints and angels in gazing upon God’s face and worshipping Him for all eternity. We believe that Jesus Christ will come again to judge the nations. On that day, all wrongs will be righted and all injustice will be vindicated. However, as we look forward to that day we work to show God’s love to our neighbor in the spirit of Saint Marianne Cope who said, “What little good we can do in this world to help and comfort the suffering, we wish to do it quietly and so far as possible unnoticed and unknown.” 

Why Do We Honor Mary?

We honor the Blessed Virgin Mary above all women who have ever lived. Because she had the great honor of carrying our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ within her very body, we celebrate her life of faith with many feasts throughout the year, including today. As she says of herself, “From this day all generations will call me blessed.”

There are many, however, who question the honor we show to Mary. They wonder if it somehow takes away from the honor that is due to God alone. By acknowledging our Blessed Mother, are we offending our Heavenly Father who alone deserves all glory and praise.

A few examples should help us understand how it is that by honoring Mary we also give honor to her Son, Jesus.

Often when we look out at the created world we cannot help but marvel at the beauty of it all. When we see the majesty of the ocean or the awesome expanse of the universe, does it not lead us to give praise to the God who created it all? Does it not cause us to wonder how great the God who brought it all forth from nothing must be? Just so, when we honor Mary’s role as mother of our Saviour and the deep faith with which she lived her life, do we not also honor our Heavenly Father who created her and endowed her with so many graces?

Another helpful example is that of an artist. If I were to praise a masterful painting, would the artist be offended? If I were to go on and on about how moving a piece of sculpture is, would the one who created it say that by doing so I was ignoring her? Of course not. The painter or sculptor would take pride in my recognition of his or her masterpiece. Just so, when we recognize the beauty of our Blessed Mother we are honoring the God who made her.

Of all her wonderful qualities, the one fact of her life that we celebrate is her “yes” in participating with God in bringing forth Jesus. Without that “yes”, our Lord and Savior could not be born. Our Heavenly Father did not coerce or force Mary to be the mother of His Son. Rather He sent an angel to invite her to play such a momentous role in our salvation. In total trust in God’s plan, she put aside her own plans and dreams. Though she may never have fully understood how it would all turn out, she stood at Jesus’ side right up to His death on the cross.

Because of her faithfulness, God rewarded her with the dignity of being assumed, body and soul, into heaven. Just as she was the first to believe, just as she was the first to say “yes” and give herself fully to God’s plan, so she is the first to enjoy the crowning achievement of salvation - the resurrection of the dead. Our Heavenly Father would not allow her sinless body to lay corrupt in the grave, but raised her up and made her Queen of Heaven.

Her life serves as an example for us. We will not serve the Kingdom of God in the same way she did. However, each of us has a part to play. Each of us must say “yes” on a daily basis to God’s will. Like Mary, we will not always understand how it will all play out. But our trust and abandonment to our Heavenly Father in faith is indispensable to bringing about the salvation of the world.

This feast in particular reminds us where our hope lies. As we recite every Sunday in the Creed, “We look forward to the resurrection of the dead.” Like Mary, we hold on to God’s promise that if we have suffered with Jesus, we will also reign with Him. The eternal life of heaven and the resurrection of our bodies awaits all of us who not only believe that Jesus is the Son of God but who stake our lives on it by living according to His teaching no matter what the cost.

We honor God, our Heavenly Father, when we reverence His most beautiful creature, the Blessed Virgin Mary. He has given her to us to be our Mother, to pray for us, to serve as an example for us and to give us hope that we too will share in the eternal life she now enjoys at the throne of her Son, Jesus. As we receive the Body of Christ, the Body that Mary carried in her womb with so much love and the Body which rose from the dead to give us the hope of everlasting life, let us say “yes” together with her to the plan of God which is still unfolding in history and which will one day culminate in the victory of Christ over sin, suffering and death.

Jesus - The Best Investment

Thanks to advances in medicine and technology, people are living to a much older age. Whereas life expectancy for those alive during the 1960’s was about seventy years, people living today can expect to live well into their eighties and even into their nineties.

While the prospect of enjoying a longer life is certainly a blessing, it also presents many challenges to us as individuals and as a society.

When faced with many years of retirement, most people wonder whether they have saved enough money to last them all that time. Though we would all like to spend our last dollar with our last breath, none of us can know how long our lives will be. How will we know whether we have put enough aside and when we can stop working?

And, how should we allocate the money we are able to save? What percentage of it should be in cash and how much should remain invested in bonds? What will happen to our savings if interest rates go down or if the stock market takes a dive? What effect will taxes and inflation have on our nest egg?

Also, what will happen to us if we get sick and need extensive hospital care? Who will take care of us when we are no longer able to take care of ourselves? And, who will pay for it all?

None of us has a crystal ball to see into the future. Not knowing what will happen makes planning that much more difficult.

Though we have been talking about planning for retirement, our readings today point us to an even more urgent reality awaiting us in the future - the coming of the Lord. None of us knows when Jesus will come again in glory. However, one thing is for sure, it will change whatever plans we have for the future. Jesus makes it clear to us that the future is in God’s hands. However, like the wise virgins in the parable, we have to be prepared to wait a long time and have to be vigilant so that we can enter into the heavenly banquet when He does arrive.

Interestingly, many of the same obstacles that keep us from planning well for retirement can also keep us from planning well to meet the Lord.

The first obstacle is denial. Some people just do not want to think about having to stand face to face before Jesus to be judged by Him. The thought of it is just too alarming to consider. Also, many people wrongly believe that Jesus will not judge us but will simply welcome us into heaven no matter what type of life we have lived.

Of course, such an illusion is contrary to what Jesus Himself taught. In fact, every Sunday we profess in the creed that “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.” And that judgment will be no simple pat on the back. If we have failed to show love to our neighbor, then we can expect to hear the fearful words that Jesus speaks in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats: “Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

If we are under the illusion that Jesus will not judge us, we had better wake up. If we are going to stand before Him on that day, we have to prepare by repenting of our sins today. We have to go to confession regularly - at least once a month - to unburden ourselves of the guilt we have committed and to find the strength to resist temptation in the future. And we have to show love to our neighbors by practicing works of mercy. If we do all this with love and faith, then we will be prepared to meet Him when He comes.

Another obstacle to preparing ourselves to meet the Lord is complacency. We think we have plenty of time to change our lives and are in no hurry. Whereas the virgins in Jesus’ parable thought the bridegroom would be coming sooner than expected, we are not expecting Jesus to come anytime soon. Therefore, we think we can put off conforming our minds and hearts to His word.

If we are under the illusion that we have plenty of time, we had better wake up. Even if the end of the world is still a long ways off, we do not know how close we are to our own death. It is likely that we have far less time than we think. We have to be prepared today to meet the Lord because we do not know when we will draw our last breath.

Finally, another obstacle that keeps us from being prepared to meet the Lord is investing our time and energy in the wrong things. Just as people can jeopardize their retirement by putting their money in the wrong investments, so we can jeopardize our salvation by investing ourselves in the wrong pursuits. If we have spent our lives seeking pleasure, power over others, status and money, then we will not be prepared to meet Jesus. Who of us can impress the Lord of all creation with our fancy titles or accomplishments? What Jesus will be looking for from us instead  is an accounting of how we loved our neighbor. If we gave our time and talents to feeding the hungry, praying for sinners, advocating for the powerless and being patient with those who irritate us, we can be sure that our investment will pay off dividends good for eternal life.

All of us will one day stand before the Lord to give an account of the good and the evil that we have done. None of us has a crystal ball to tell us how much time we have left. Therefore, if we are going to be prepared to meet Him, we have to shake off the denial and complacency that fool us into thinking that we do not have to deal with it. If we live each day conscious of the account that we will have to give to Jesus, then we do not have to worry about facing Him after death. After all, He died so that we might have eternal life. At the same time, however, He is a just judge.

Let today be the day when we earnestly seek Him so that we will not be a stranger to Him when we meet Him face to face. 

Saint YOU

As we begin, I ask you to take a moment, clear your mind and think of what your name would sound like with the title of “saint” in front of it.

What does it feel like to think about yourself as a saint?  Does it suit you? Or does it sound so foreign that it is almost ridiculous?

And how do you feel when you hear me say that God is calling you to be a saint? Do you feel excited? Or do you feel afraid?

Finally, what is keeping you from being a great saint? What makes you want to shrink away from the invitation to lead a holy and inspiring life?

Do you think you cannot become a saint because of your sinful past? Don’t tell that to Saint Augustine. For years, he lived with a woman he refused to marry and had a child out of wedlock with her. He spent his youth chasing all types of worldly pleasures. And yet, he heard God’s call to have a change of heart and became one of the Church’s most important thinkers teaching us that God’s mercy can reach even the hardest of sinners. 

Do you think you cannot become a saint because you are not talented enough? Don’t tell that to Saint Therese of Lisieux. When she entered the convent, she noticed how many gifts the other nuns around her had and she wondered whether she had anything to contribute? In prayer, she discovered that all God was asking of her was love. From then on, she decided that she would make love her talent. In so doing, she became one of the most influential saints of the past 200 years teaching us that, to please God, all we need is to do all things with great love.

Do you think you cannot become a saint because you are divorced or a single mother? Don’t tell that to Saint Helena. At one time, she was married to the powerful Roman Emperor who divorced her and left her alone to raise her son. That son would himself one day become the Emperor of Rome and it was through Saint Helena’s influence that he was converted and ended the persecution of Christians. Then, at eighty years of age, she traveled to Jerusalem and discovered the true cross on which Jesus was crucified. So, don’t tell Saint Helena that you are too old to become a saint either!

Do you think you cannot become a saint because you are too busy? Don’t tell that to Saint Pope John Paul II. In 1978, he was elected head of the Catholic Church, the world’s largest and oldest institution with over one billion members. During that time he traveled 104 times, wrote 14 major documents, met with heads of state and many thousands of other people. And yet, he still made time to pray three rosaries a day!  You may have a lot on your plate, but are you busier than the pope? If he can become a saint with all he has to do, you can too.

Do you think you cannot become a saint because you are too young? Don’t tell that to Saint Jacinta. She was one of the shepherd children to whom Our Lady appeared at Fatima. At the time, Saint Jacinta was only nine years old. Nonetheless, she embraced Our Lady’s call to do penance and pray the rosary for the conversion of sinners. Because of her love for Jesus and her concern for sinners, she taught us all that, not matter how old we are, we can change the world through prayer.

Do you think you cannot become a saint because you are uneducated or have a learning disability? Don’t tell that to Saint John Vianney. His passion was to become a priest but he struggled with his studies and almost was turned away from the seminary. However, because of his great holiness the bishop allowed him to be ordained. He worked tirelessly in his parish to teach people about the love of Jesus. Because of his reputation for holiness, people would come from miles away to go to confession to him. After his death, he became the patron saint of parish priests teaching us that it is not intelligence or learning that makes the saint but perseverance in grace.

Finally, Saint Thomas Aquinas gives us some of the best advice on becoming a saint. When a young friar asked him what the secret to becoming a saint was he said, “You must will it.” If we desire to be a saint, that is God already working in our hearts preparing us for the mission that only we can fulfill. If we do not feel that desire, then we can simply ask God to put it there. He wants us to enjoy all the blessings of this life and the joy of eternal life with Him in heaven. Therefore, we can count on Him to give us the grace to be saints.

God is calling all of us to be saints. There is no excuse not to accept that invitation and commit ourselves to living the gospel message in hope of the joining the ranks of the saints in  heaven. 

Which Way To Heaven?

How do you get into heaven?

If we were to ask most people, they would say that, after we die, God makes a list of all the good and bad things we've done. If the list of good works is longer than the list of sins, we go to heaven. But if the list of sins is longer, we go to hell.

This is the impression that most people – maybe even many Christians – have. However, there are some significant problems with this kind of thinking. In fact, if God really did judge our lives this way we'd be in big trouble.

First of all, every sin we commit is an offense to an infinitely good and loving God. Whenever we choose evil, we are rejecting the love of the one who created us and loves us unconditionally. Since even the smallest sin is a rejection of God's love, there is no way we could ever make up for offending him. Because we are finite, imperfect people, no amount of good works, donations or pure intentions could make up for the offense we give to our infinitely good and perfect God.

The second problem we have is that we do not really deserve that much credit for our good works. None of us can say to God," Well, I have never killed anyone or stolen anything." God would only respond to that, "Well, you're not supposed to kill or steal!" Because we're supposed to do good and avoid evil, we cannot expect God to give us a parade every time we do what he has commanded us to do or avoid doing what he has commanded us not to do.

So, we are faced with a tremendous dilemma. Every one of our sins puts us in debt to God. And, no amount of good works we perform could ever pay it back. How, then, would it ever be possible for any of us to get into heaven?

This is where the good news of Jesus Christ comes in. Because He is God, Jesus is infinitely good and loving. He has never sinned and can never offend the Father. By becoming man, He performed the ultimate good work. He did not need to take on our human nature and neither did He have to die. However, by doing so, He could pay the debt we incurred. Because He is infinitely good and perfect like the Father, He could offer a pure sacrifice on behalf of us who are sinful and imperfect. Once that debt is paid, we can be forgiven for the infinite offense we've caused the God who loves us unconditionally.

This reality makes sense of the strange words John the Baptist utters in today's gospel: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world." Calling Jesus, "the Lamb of God" may not sound strange to us because we say those words at every Mass before receiving communion. However, it would have sounded unusual to the people of Jesus day.

Lambs were animals offered in sacrifice. They were slaughtered and their blood spilled in hopes of making peace with God. It was understood that anyone who broke the commandments deserved death. However, God in his mercy, would accept the blood of the lamb in place of the life of the sinner. Calling Jesus "the Lamb of God" means that, like the sacrificial lamb, He offered His life in exchange for ours. He received the punishment we deserve for our sins. And because of that, He can bring forgiveness, healing and peace to all who call on His name.

So, if Jesus takes away our sins, does it mean that we can go on sinning and breaking God's commandments without ever having to worry about getting punished for it? By no means! Consider this. What if someone you love hurt you. If he came back and asked for forgiveness, you would likely forgive him. However, what if he turned around and hurt you again? Would it not be that much harder to forgive him? Wouldn’t you start to wonder whether he was really sorry?

The same is true for God. Now that He has sent His Son to die for our sins, it is even more offensive to Him when we break His commandments. Thankfully, our Heavenly Father is infinitely merciful and always willing to forgive us. However we have to make an extra effort to avoid evil and to do good if we are to show Him that we accept His forgiveness. We can do so by going to confession frequently and making a point of showing mercy to others.

We cannot earn our way into heaven. Eternal life is not a reward for being a nice person. Rather Jesus, the Lamb of God, paid the price for us to take away the sins of the world.  He offers eternal life as a free gift to us who believe and are baptized. For our part, we must strive to keep his commandments and spread his good news up until the day we stand before the judgment seat of God.

In a few minutes, I will hold up the Body of Christ broken for us and repeat the words of John the Baptist: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” As we come up to receive Him, let us do so with gratitude for His sacrifice. Let us accept the offer of salvation He makes to us by welcoming Him into our hearts. And let us commit ourselves to serving our neighbor not only in hopes of one day seeing Jesus face to face in Heaven but in response to the love He has shown us. 

The Thief Who Stove Heaven

He has been called “the thief who stole Paradise.”

The good thief, as he has also been called, was one of the criminals crucified with Jesus. Since crucifixion was reserved for the worst offenders such as murders or terrorists, we know that he must have been more than just a simple thief. The gospels do not tell us his name, but the tradition has referred to him as Saint Dismas. He has been invoked to give hope to us that no matter what our sins may be, we can always turn to Jesus and expect to find mercy and forgiveness.

In Saint Matthew’s gospel, we are told that both criminals condemned with Jesus began mocking him along with the religious leaders and soldiers. However, something happened to the good thief. Something changed Saint Dismas? What could it have been?

We know that the good thief must have been a hardened criminal. During his infamous career, he would have known many other lawbreakers like himself. As he looked upon Jesus, he must have known that He was different. Unlike the felons Saint Dismas knew, Jesus did not curse, did not protest His innocence and did not show disdain or hate for those who condemned Him. The good thief must have known in his heart that Jesus was no criminal and did not deserve to be put to death.

The turning point for Saint Dismas must have been when, in the height of agony, Jesus cried out from the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” An innocent man, put to death unjustly and subjected to the cruelest of tortures, forgives those who persecute Him. The good thief lived in a world that thrived on violence and revenge. Forgiveness was a concept He could not grasp. In his mind, it was for the weak and the powerless. But now He sees a man forgiving others out of love. Maybe Saint Dismas had never been shown love by those around him. Now he was seeing a divine love capable of embracing the worst of sinners - those who would put the Son of God to death.

Seeing Jesus willingness to forgive must have given the good thief great confidence. “If He can forgive His persecutors, then He can forgive me.” Summoning whatever strength was left in his crucified body, he turns to Jesus and cries out, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he hears the words that all of us would also rejoice to hear, “...today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Jesus is a King who conquers hearts not through violence but through love. His strategy is to offer mercy and forgiveness rather than condemnation. Our Lord longs for us to love Him rather than fear Him. He wants us to run to Him rather than run from Him. He desires to comfort us rather than judge us. Now matter how great our sins may be, no matter how far we may have drifted from the path that God would have us walk, we can always come back to Jesus. We can always be forgiven. We can always change.

It is natural for us to be skeptical when we hear that prisoners have “found Jesus.” We cannot help but wonder whether their sudden conversion is just a ploy to get sympathy from judges and juries. However, the experience of the good thief may challenge us to reconsider our attitudes. Could it be that because murderers, thieves and sex offenders are rejected by society and held in scorn that they have no one else to turn to except God? Could it be that because their crimes are so savage and brutal that any notion that they could be forgiven melts their hearts? As Jesus tells us, “those who have been forgiven much, love much.”

Furthermore, if we claim that we are followers of Christ, if we want a share in His Kingdom, then do we not have to follow His example of forgiveness? If we want to spread His Kingdom, then will it not be by our willingness to extend a hand of friendship, comfort and support even to the worst of people?

Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has given us so many wonderful images of this love of Jesus that goes out to sinners. One of the most beautiful was on Holy Thursday when he celebrated Mass at the Casa del Marmo youth penitentiary in Rome. With tender love and humility, he washed the feet of the young offenders offering them mercy as Jesus did to the good thief on the cross. A Vatican spokesperson commenting on the event told BBC news, “It is a gesture of humility and service....It teaches that liberation and new life are won not in presiding over multitudes from royal thrones...but by walking with the lowly and poor and serving them as a foot-washer along the journey.”

If we are to have a share in Jesus’ Kingdom, if we are to join Him one day in Paradise, we have to show the same love, forgiveness and mercy to everyone without exception.

Like the good thief, it begins with our acknowledging our sinfulness before the cross of Jesus. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God. None of us is the person God dreamed we could be when He created us. We allow our hearts to be hardened by bitterness, we allow our relationships to be corrupted by selfishness and we allow our choices to be determined by narrow self-interest. If we cannot recognize our own sinfulness, then we will be like the thief who mocks Jesus because he does not believe he deserves to be condemned. On the other hand, if we admit our need for forgiveness, then we will not be willing to offer it to others.

Jesus is a King who offers love and mercy to us, especially to the most hardened of sinners. The greater our sins are, the greater our right to turn to Him. It was for sinners that Christ came to the world and unless we go to Him as sinners we cannot expect to receive anything from Him. At the same time, He expects us to extend that mercy to everyone, especially to the greatest of sinners. Then His Kingdom will be a reality on earth and our hope for Paradise.

Going To See Jesus

Laura was the housekeeper in the rectory of a busy parish with two priests, a school and convent.

After Mass every morning, one of the sisters, Sr. Joseph Mary, would go to the rectory to talk to Laura. Since she had long since retired from teaching, she was in no rush to get back to the convent. However, Laura was anxious to get back to her work in the rectory. As Sister talked on and on, she would try to find some polite way to end the conversation so that she would not fall behind in her chores.

One Friday evening, Laura was in the grocery store and noticed Sr. Joseph Mary out of the corner of her eye. With her daughter waiting for her in the car, she did not want to bump into Sister and get caught in a conversation that could last well over a  half an hour. So she did her best to try to avoid her.

However, Sr. Joseph Mary did notice her. As soon as she did, she ran up the aisle to her saying, “Laura, Laura, I’m so glad I saw you! I am going home to my Lord! I am going to see Jesus!”

Puzzled by her words, Laura asked her what she meant. Sister explained that she had been diagnosed with cancer. It was a particularly aggressive kind and it had already spread to several of her organs. The doctor told her that she probably only had weeks to live.

That was the last time Laura saw Sr. Joseph Mary. Within two weeks, she passed away.

Most people when receiving a diagnosis of cancer and a prognosis of only a few weeks to live would panic. They would be angry and ask God why. They would bargain with God assuring Him that they would go to Church more if only He would heal them. They would be overcome with fear at the pain they would be suffering. But not this holy sister. She approached death with total confidence in our Lord. She was even eager to die knowing that she would shortly be resting in the hand of God.

Our Christian faith gives us a new perspective on death. It is not an end, it is a new beginning. Like the seed buried in the ground that becomes a flower or like a caterpillar wrapped in a cocoon that becomes a butterfly, death transforms us from mortal human beings to sons and daughters of God and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven. Once we have passed through death into heaven, suffering can no longer touch us.

We have this confidence because Jesus died on the cross for us. He accepted death with obedience and love and, in so doing, won for us the hope of everlasting life. Through baptism, we join ourselves to Jesus’ death, we “die with Christ” and so are given the promise of eternal life with Him in heaven. Every day, we die to ourselves by carrying the cross that God has chosen for us. If every day, with the help of God’s grace, we seek to do His will, then we too will approach our own death with acceptance, serenity and even joy.

Sr. Joseph Mary, in accepting the news of her death with such joy, shows us how free she really was. She was free from the fear of pain. Though she knew her illness would cause her much suffering, she was willing to endure it by joining it to the suffering of Christ. Her life had been fully of many close relationships but she was willing to say goodbye to her friends and family to be joined with Jesus in the company of the saints. Her life was totally focused on serving God, so she died with no regrets about what she may have missed out on in life. There were no earthly attachments holding her down, so she could open her arms to welcome the death that would unite her with her Lord forever.

Most people who are faced with the imminence of their death are not as blessed as Sr Joseph Mary. They are still holding onto regrets, resentments and sinful habits. They do not have the freedom to welcome death because they never really lived fully. We should always keep in our prayers those who are dying, that they can do so with peace and courage. We should also pray for their families who are struggling to support them while they cope with their own loss.

We should also keep in our prayers those who have already died and were still burdened with regrets, resentments or selfish attitudes. Jesus made it clear that no one can enter the Kingdom of Heaven with such blemishes on their conscience. However, God grants one more act of mercy for them. He offers them the chance to be purified of those earthly attachments, to be cleansed, so that they can freely embrace all the joys of heaven. We call that act of mercy, Purgatory. It is the state of the soul between physical death and entering the glory of heaven. We assist such souls with our prayers that they can let go of everything that is weighing them down and preventing them from rising up to the place God has prepared for them in Heaven.

Every year on this day, we gather as believers to reflect on the mystery of death and to pray for those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith. It is an act of mercy for us to offer up Masses, sacrifices and prayers for our loved ones who are preparing themselves to enter the glory of Heaven. In particular, we should make an effort to pray for those souls who are forgotten and have no one to pray for them. If we do so, then we can be assured that they will also pray for us. Through their prayers and through the example of holy people like Sr Joseph Mary, we too can come to embrace the reality of death not with anxiety and fear but with peace and joy knowing that we will be united to our Lord and Savior forever.

Feast Of All The Saints

Imagine the most beautiful place you have ever been. Imagine the awe you felt at the grandeur of God’s creation. Imagine the peace it gave you to feel a part of all that surrounded you.

Now imagine the happiest day of your life. Imagine all the blessings that made that day so special. Imagine all the people you shared it with and the overwhelming feeling of love that enveloped you.

Now imagine the most intense religious experience you have ever had. Imagine the sense of God’s presence that you felt. Imagine all the intense emotions that welled up in your soul as you realized that you are loved by God as His unique daughter or son.

All those experiences no matter how intense or profound are only the faintest shadow of what awaits us in heaven.

There we will see God face to face. Saint John, in today’s second reading, assures us that “we shall see Him as He is.” He will no longer be hidden from us. There will be no question as to His existence. However, even more importantly, we will experience His deep, abiding love for us. We will see Him look at us with His loving gaze. There will be no doubt in our minds that we are desired by the God who created all this beauty from nothing.

Also we will be joined by all the faithful people of God who have ever lived. By God’s grace we will stand in the company of Moses, David, Judith and Isaiah. We will see the Blessed Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, Saint Joseph, Saint Peter, Saint Mary Magdalene and all those who knew Jesus during His earthly life. All the angels of God in their splendor will fill the heavenly chamber. As Saint John describes for us in the first reading from the Book of Revelation, together with them we will stand before the throne of our Heavenly Father raising our voices in praise for His goodness, mercy and justice.

Every year on this day - The Feast of All Saints - the Church reminds us of our calling to be saints. Each of us was created by God to spend eternity with Him in Heaven. Heaven is our homeland. It is where our hearts will finally be at rest. It is the fulfillment of all our longing. It is where the mysterious plan of God will be revealed to us and all the struggles and trials of this life will finally make sense.

That is why we are given this great feast day every year - to give us hope. As followers of Christ, we struggle in this life. We do not feel at home in a world where human life is seen as disposable, where the only purpose is to experience pleasure and the only value of a person is his or her ability to be productive. We feel out of place in a society that fills its mind with worthless entertainment while the soul is undernourished. And we do not understand how there can be so much poverty and misery on a planet abundantly blessed with natural resources. Yet on this day we profess our belief that we were not made just for this world. We await a new heaven and a new earth where God’s justice will rule supreme. All that is lacking in this present life points us to the life that is to come. Despite all the setbacks we experience, despite the ridicule we are subjected to because of our beliefs, we hold onto our faith in a good God who has called us to spend an eternity of joy with Him. We hold onto our hope that He will triumph in the end.

Saint John in today’s second reading tells us: “Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure as he is pure.”

This feast not only reminds us that we are called to spend all eternity with God in Heaven, it also teaches us how we are to live in this life. We are to use the good things of this world to help us along on our journey to Paradise. We have to be disciplined to not allow them to distract us from our final destination. We are to be pure - that is, untainted by the materialistic values of our age.

We often have the misconception that the saints were so focused on heaven that they did not enjoy the things of earth. But nothing could be further from the truth. We know that Saint Francis loved nature and animals. All the saints enjoyed intimate, emotionally sustaining friendships. For every saint, there is another saint who was his or her good friend. We think of Saint Francis and Saint Clare, Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint John of the Cross, Saint Benedict and Saint Scholastica. Understanding that the things of this world are passing helped the saints focus on what really mattered - faith, hope and love.

We are all called to be great saints, each of us right where we live and work. We are called to remember our dignity as children of God whose true home is in heaven. We are called to focus on the things that really matter - faith, hope and love - as we live in a world that only understands what it can see and touch. If by God’s grace, we persevere no matter what trials we may experience, then we can hold on to the hope that we will see our Heavenly Father as He is and be like Him.

A Home At Last

One evening, while a woman was preparing supper, her 19 year old daughter complained of a headache and went to her room to lie down. When her mother went to the bedroom to tell her daughter that supper was ready, the girl was having a seizure. The mother immediately called 911, and the ambulance came to rush the daughter to the hospital. The young woman was pronounced dead upon her arrival at the emergency room.

The mother was devastated. For years, she kept her daughter's room exactly the way it was when she died. She left all her clothes hanging in the closet and the posters hanging on the wall. She even refused to change the sheets on the bed. Many nights, her husband would come home from work to find the mother with her face down on the bed crying. That bedroom was all she had left of her beloved daughter.

Through her grieving process, today's gospel reading came to be a great source of comfort for this woman. Just as she kept a room for her daughter in her home, Jesus had a place prepared for her daughter in heaven. To know that Jesus was now taking care of her daughter - that Jesus had made a home for her - gave her a sense of peace and calm that helped her come to terms with the tragedy of her daughter's death.

Today's gospel reading is part of the narrative of the Last Supper in the gospel of John. The apostles are jittery. They know something is up. They are getting the sense that Jesus is in danger and that they are in danger. They really have no idea how violently Jesus will be treated later that night and into the next day. Jesus senses their anxiety and seeks to calm their fears. He assures them that, though they will be separated for a while, he will prepare a place for them in His Father's house. They will have their faith tested. They will suffer. Most of them will eventually be killed for being followers of Jesus. But, Jesus Himself will come to bring them to His Father's house. Jesus will always have a place for them.

Many of us know what it is like to have an empty room in our homes or an empty place in our hearts for a loved one who is no longer in our lives. It may be a parent, a spouse or a child we have lost to death. It may be an ex-husband or ex-wife who has abandoned us. It may be an adult child who, for whatever reason, wants nothing to do with us. It may be a brother or sister or friend we haven't spoken to in years. We keep a light burning in our hearts or a room ready in our homes, in hopes that they will return.

Imagine, now, that Jesus has the same place prepared for each one of us. Imagine that Jesus has a light burning in hopes that we will return to Him. Jesus is counting on our spending eternity with Him in His Father's house. Can we even begin to imagine how great God's love is for us that He waits for us with the same passion of a mother who grieves for her daughter, or a lover who prays that his beloved will come back to him?

Jesus has a place prepared for each of us in heaven. But, Jesus has also prepared a place for us in this church, in this parish. This is the place where we encounter God. This is the place where we hear God speak. This is the place where Jesus surrenders His Body and Blood for our nourishment. This is the place - as Saint Peter explains in the second reading -where we are built up like living stones into an edifice of spirit offering spiritual sacrifices. It is here that we face Jesus - the Way, the Truth and the Life.

All of us are gathered here for different reasons. Some of us are here because we really believe that being here makes a difference in our lives, whether we can explain it or not. Some of us are here out of a sense of duty. Some of us are here because we just got the feeling that we should go to church today. Some of us don't know why we are here. But, whether we feel it or not, whether we can explain it or not, each one of us belongs here. Each one of us is meant to be here. Jesus means us to be here. Jesus has prepared this place for us. Jesus has prepared these readings for us. Jesus has prepared this message for us. Jesus has arranged all this so that we would meet Him here today. None of us is here by accident or by coincidence. Jesus has prepared this worship event so that He could bump into us and so that He could find some way of getting Himself into our lives.

Now, we have a decision to make. Do we have room in our hearts for Jesus? Do we have a place prepared in our lives to welcome Him? Do we have a light burning in our hearts waiting for the day that Jesus will visit us? Will today be the day that we stop resisting Jesus' call? Will today be the day that we accept into our hearts Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life?