Sunday Meditation: How Can We Be Happy in Heaven if Our Loved Ones Aren't There?

Funerals turn the minds of the faithful to the four last things: death, judgment, heaven or hell. That's not too surprising when you think about it. Even those who have little or no relationship with God must think about "What's next!" when they attend a funeral. "Is this really all there is?... Where is my loved one, friend, acquaintance, colleague now?...What will happen to me after I die?" 

Death has a way of focusing the mind.

My husband and I have experienced two deaths in the past eight months, an older sibling in each family. Reflecting on death and the power of prayer makes me so grateful for the Catholic Church family. Whenever I ask for prayers, dozens of you respond immediately offering Masses and rosaries and who knows what other acts of charity for the requested needs? I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

We are all philosophers searching for life's meaning.

Jesus in the Temple by Heinrich Hofmann

Watching an episode of the Papal Posse the other day, I listened to Fr. Gerald Murray discuss the reason so many young people are coming to the Church. He described the four fundamental questions that encourage a serious examination of life. These questions often lead people, especially the young and idealistic, to make life-transforming decisions. 

You know not the day or the hour... Be Prepared

Rest in Peace, Jeanne

Today's post is an invitation to think about the four last things: death, judgment, heaven or hell. Where are you headed?

My sister died yesterday morning. She was declining for a long time, but there was no indication that death was imminent. When the phone rang at 6:30 a.m. I thought it might be one of the multiple fishing calls I get with an agent wanting to talk about my back pain, diabetes, knee problems, ulcers, take your pick. 

"Wow! Somebody decided to call really early," I thought." Odd to go there because when the phone rings at unexpected times, I usually immediately think of my sister. That shows how unexpected her death was.

First Saturday: A Good Day for Confession and Atonement Prayer

My New Year resolutions are growing gradually. I started with the intention of reading one entry from the Imitation of Christ every night before bed. It is a spiritual book that never goes stale and I'm amazed how often the reading relates to something specific going on in my life. In addition, a few days ago, reflecting on First Friday, I made a specific intention of making the nine  First Fridays this year with a conscious effort. Reflecting on the Sacred Heart of Jesus pierced for love us can't help but inspire our love and gratitude in return.

And now it is First Saturday and I'm reflecting on adding the Five First Saturdays as well, a devotion requested by Mary when she appeared to Sr. Lucia of Fatima in 1926. The Five First Saturdays take more effort than First Friday. It isn't enough to go to Mass and Confession (within eight days). One is also required to pray the rosary and spend an additional 15 minutes meditating on one of the mysteries of the rosary, a different one each of the five Saturdays. All is done to atone for the five types of sins against the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Mother which include:

blasphemies against her Immaculate Conception, against her perpetual virginity, against the divine and spiritual maternity of Mary, blasphemies involving the rejection and dishonoring of her images, and the neglect of implanting in the hearts of children a knowledge and love of this Immaculate Mother. (See more here...)

What did the Blessed Mother promise to Sr. Lucia for those who would make the First Saturday devotion? Listen to her own words:

"Behold, my daughter, my Heart encircled with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce It at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. Give me consolation, you, at least; and make known on my behalf that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all who on the First Saturday of five consecutive months confess their sins, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the purpose of making reparation to my Immaculate Heart."

As I get older, I reflect more often on the last things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. And how encouraging it is to think of Mary coming with her legion of angels to accompany me on my final journey. It's a small effort of love to make for such a great return. When I think of the efforts we go to for celebrating birthdays, holidays, etc. it is a small effort indeed to show love and devotion to Our Lady.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

Pepsi Promotes Perversion - Buy Generic!

Pepsi is an in-your-face (literally) promoter of the sodomite lifestyle. The company has two TV ads out now that promote same-sex hookups. Both start by playing on the natural attraction between attractive men and women and end in the punch-line of men lusting for men. Oh, it's low key for now -- no kiss, not even physical contact. But it's using sex (gay sex) to sell a product.

Ah well, Madison Avenue has done that for years with the gorgeous model sprawled on the hood of the car or a bikini clad beach bunny drinking a particular soft drink while a handsome guy slathers on the right suntan lotion. Levis actually had two versions of an ad for jeans awhile back -- one with a same-sex couple and the other with a normal couple. (I use the word normal very deliberately. Perversion will never be normal no matter how many people buy the lie.)

Lent calls us to repent from sin and return to the Lord. Lust, no matter how it shows its ugly face is lust, one of the seven deadly sins. It's endemic to our culture (along with greed). The devil will gladly rope in the adulterer, the fornicator, the sodomite, the stripper, and those committing sins of impurity in all its forms.

The devil is devious. He takes what makes us most like God - our power to co-create with Him a new human life, and perverts it. In the garden he told Eve, "If you eat the apple you'll be like God." Today he tells us "If you worship pleasure, you'll find heaven on earth." It was a lie then; it's a lie now, but many are taken in by it... and create their own hell on earth. Ask someone dying of AIDS or a suffering post-aborted woman who says, "I regret my abortion" whether her "choice" brought happiness.

Classic literature is filled with the tragic outcome of lust. Read Anna Karenina, Kristin Lavransdatter, Troilus and Cressida, The Scarlet Letter, and scores of others. Lust always wears glimmering garments, but underneath is corruption.

Lent is a time to achieve true freedom from sin. Mary Magdalene, the harlot, becomes a saint. Hawthorne's fictional Hester Prynne is transformed. Every day is new in the Lord's time and he promises to remember our sins no more -- but only if we repent. So "if today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts."

Spend some time this Lent refelcting on the four last things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. The first meditation could well begin with the words of the priest as he applies ashes. "Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou must return."

And drink water -- not Pepsi.