No Truer Words Were Ever Spoken

At the Easter vigil in Rome last night, the Holy Father spoke these words:

"Endless life would be no paradise, if anything a condemnation. The true cure for death must be different. It cannot lead simply to an indefinite prolongation of this current life. It would have to transform our lives from within. It would need to create a new life within us, truly fit for eternity."

In his book, The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis shows the people in heaven experiencing a reality that is so real even the blades of grass hurt to walk on for those who still cling to earthly desires. In many ways this life is a dream world that only becomes real to the degree that we draw near the "Real Presence," Christ in the Eucharist.

Look at all the folks who invest everything in this world, in those things that rust and corrode: money, power, and human respect. Many don't seem to think of the next world at all. They are too focused on the next episode of House or Gray's Anatomy. They laugh at blasphemy and indulge in the seven deadly sins without a thought. And many, as Thoreau said, "lead quiet lives of desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them." Instead of singing and joyfully dancing with the Lord, they lull their consciences with pleasure and trivial pursuits.

And yet, the one thing that matters, the only thing that matters, is eternal salvation. That reality resonates in the souls of men and they are ever restless searching for fulfillment that can only come through the Lord.

To paraphrase St. Augustine: "O Lord, you made our hearts for Thee and ever restless will they be until they rest in Thee."

A friend gave me a bumper sticker that reads Heaven: Don't Miss it for the World. That's a message we would all do well to ponder during the Easter season beginning with the Divine Mercy Novena that started on Good Friday. It's not too late to join. Go here...