2nd NOVEMBER: COMMEMORATION OF ALL HOLY SOULS IN PURGATORY. Reflections from the writings of Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer(1902-75): • Dont be afraid of death. Accept it from now on, generously, when God wills it, where God wills it, as God wills it. Dont doubt what I say: it will come in the moment, in the place and in the way that are best: sent by your Father-God. Welcome be our sister death! • For others, death is a stumbling block, a source of terror. For us, the children of God, death is Life, an encouragement and a stimulus. For them it is the end: for us, the beginning. • When you think about death, do not be afraid, in spite of your sins. For God already knows that you love Him and what stuff you are made of. If you seek Him, He will welcome you as the father welcomed the prodigal son; but you have to seek Him. • If at any time you feel uneasy at the thought of our sister death because you see yourself to be such a poor creature, take heart. Heaven awaits us and consider: what will it be like when all the infinite beauty and greatness, and happiness and Love of God will be poured into the poor clay vessel that the human being is, to satisfy it eternally with the freshness of an ever new joy? • When facing death, be calm. I do not want you to have the cold stoicism of the pagan, but the fervour of a child of God who knows that life is changed, not taken away. To die is to live! • Do not make a tragedy out of death, for it is not one. Only unloving children do not look forward to meet their Heavenly Father. • Sanctity consists precisely in this: in struggling to be faithful throughout your life and in accepting joyfully the Will of God at the hour of death. • Happiness in Heaven is for those who know how to be happy on earth. For Heaven or Hell begin in this life on earth. • Hell alone is a punishment for sin. Death and judgement are only consequences, which those who are in the grace of God do not fear. For there is nothing more terrible and dangerous that can happen to you then not being in a state of grace when God calls you to appear before Him. • If I love, there will be no hell for me. • God Our Lord denies no one supernatural and eternal happiness, although it is a completely free gift to which no one has a right, especially after sin. He alone knows what goes on in the heart of each man, and he does not deal with souls en masse, but one by one. • Have you never heard the worldly-minded sadly complain that each day that passes is a step nearer death? It is. And I tell you: rejoice, apostolic soul, for each day that pass brings you closer to Life. • Nam, et si ambulavero in medio umbrae mortis, non timebo mala — Though I should walk through the valley of the shadow of death, no evil will I fear. Neither my wretchedness nor the temptations of the enemy will worry me, quoniam tu mecum es —for You O Lord are with me. • Keep going forward cheerfully and trying hard, even though you are so little — nothing at all! When you are with Him nobody in the world can stop you. Consider, moreover, how everything is good for those who love God. Every problem in this world has a solution, except death, and for us death is Life. • There is an answer to everything, except death. And death is the answer to everything. • Desire ardently that, when that unavoidable good sister of yours, death, comes to render you the service of taking you to God, she will not find you attached to anything on this earth! • The thought of death will help you to grow in the virtue of charity, for it might be that this particular instant in which you are together with one person or another is the last one. They, or you, or I, could be gone at any moment. • At least once a day, cast your mind ahead to the moment of death so that you can consider the events of each day in this light. I can assure you that you will have a good experience of the peace this consideration brings. • How marvellous it will be when we hear Our Father tell us, Well done, My good and faithful servant, because you have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many; enter into the joy of your Lord! Let us be full of hope! This is the great thing about being a contemplative soul. We live by Faith, Hope and Love, and Hope makes us powerful. You have the power to transform everything human into something divine, just as King Midas turned everything he touched into gold! Do not ever forget that after death you will be welcomed by Love itself. And in the love of God you will find as well all the noble loves which you had on earth. Our Lord has arranged for us to spend this brief day of our earthly existence working and, like his only-begotten Son, doing good. Meanwhile we have to be on our guard, alert to the call Saint Ignatius of Antioch felt within his soul as the hour of his martyrdom approached. Come to the Father, come to your Father, who anxiously awaits you. • Time passes so swiftly. For us Christians the fleetingness of our journey through life should instead be a spur to help us make better use of our time. It should never be a motive for fearing Our Lord, and much less for looking upon death as a disastrous and final end. It had been said in countless ways, some more poetical than others that, by the grace and mercy of God, each year that ends is a step that takes us nearer to Heaven, our final home. When I reflect on this, how well I understand Saint Pauls exclamation when he writes to the Corinthians, ‘Tempus breve est’. How short indeed is the time of our passing through this world! For the true Christian these words ring deep down in his heart as a reproach to his lack of generosity, and as a constant invitation to be loyal. Brief indeed is our time for loving, for giving, for making atonement. It would be very wrong, therefore, for us to waste it, or to cast this treasure irresponsibly overboard. We must not squander this period of the worlds history which God has entrusted to each one of us. • Our Lord speaks frequently to us of the reward which he won for us by his Death and Resurrection. I am going away to prepare a home for you. And though I do go away, to prepare you a home, I am coming back; and then I will take you to myself, so that you too may be where I am. Heaven is the final destination of our path on earth. Jesus has gone ahead of us and awaits us there, in the company of Our Lady and of Saint Joseph, whom I so much revere, and of all the angels and saints. Our way is divine, Jesus Himself being the Way, the Truth and the Life, and thus we have a sure token that it ends in Eternal Happiness, provided we do not separate ourselves from Him. • Death comes and cannot be avoided. What empty vanity it is, then, to centre our existence on this life. See how much many men and women suffer. Some suffer because life is coming to an end and it pains them to leave it; others because it is going on, and they are sick of it. In neither case is there room for the mistaken view that makes our passage through this world an end in itself. One must leave that way of thinking behind and anchor oneself to another, an eternal one. A total change is required, to empty oneself of self-centred motives, which pass away, and to be renewed in Christ, who is eternal.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 18:10:09 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015