You are created to know God, love God
and serve God in this life so as to be happy with Him forever in HEAVEN. (Basic
catechism). Man is created to praise
God, reverence God, serve God and by means of this to save his soul. (Principle and Foundation of St. Ignatius,
Spiritual Exercises # 23).
These concise and clear statements
should motivate our thinking process, are decision process and our actions
during the whole course of our life. This should be our philosophy of
life! The basic point here is this:
HEAVEN! Our life has as its primary
purpose to do all we can, at all times, places and circumstances to attain our
goal—eternal life in heaven! May we long for heaven: “As the
deer yearns for the running waters so my soul longs for you my Lord and my God.”
WHAT IS IT LIKE? Can we penetrate and plumb the depths of
the reality of heaven? Of course
not! However, we should try! St. Paul gives us a mere glimpse of the
reality of heaven with these encouraging words:
“Eye has not seen, ear has not
heard, nor has it entered into the mind of man the great things that God has
prepared for those who love Him.”
It goes beyond human imagination!
Still we should strive, calling to mind the words of St. Anselm: “Faith
seeks understanding.”
A HELPFUL EXERCISE! This mental exercise could prove extremely
useful in our longing for heaven our eternal destiny. Now call to mind the happiest day in your
life. Now boil this down to the two happiest hours in your life! Got it? Now multiply that immense joy that you
experienced, maybe just once in your life, a million times over! Then add to that ETERNITY! Now “Eternity” is key to understanding the
reality of heaven. Eternity means
forever and ever and ever. St. Augustine
says that our life in comparison with eternity is nothing more than a blink of
the eye!
Personally ORDINATION DAY! I personally can call to mind May 25, 1986.
It was a Sunday, the Solemnity of the most Blessed Trinity. The place? St. Peter’s Basilica! The occurrence? Ordination to the holy
priesthood. The ceremony started at
about 9:30 in the morning. The many deacons to be ordained processed in—I was
one of them. The there was a line of priests, Bishops, and finally Pope John
Paul II arrived! During the course of
the Mass-Ordination ceremony Pope John Paul II prayed a prayer over all of us.
Then he came down to place his hands on us individually and pray in
silence. He arrived at me and placed his
holy hands on my head. In that ceremony
I was ordained as a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
Peace, joy, happiness, and boundless consolation
flooded my soul, newly marked with the indelible character of Holy Orders. St. John Paul II ordained me to the holy
Orders of the Priesthood. From then on I
have been able to bring Jesus to countless souls through the Holy Sacrifice of
the Mass giving Holy Communion and reconcile countless souls to His Friendship
through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. What indescribable joy!
Why not undertake you own exercise
now—the happiest day and two hours of your life and compare it to heaven and
eternity!
PROMISE OF JESUS. Jesus made several promises to His faithful
followers. One was the reality of heaven and His desire to take us to heaven to
be with Him and the Father for all eternity. Listen and pray joyfully over
these words of immense consolation!
“Do not let your hearts
be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house
there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I
am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I
will come back again to take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.
Where I am going you know the way.”(Jn. 14:1-4)
REALITY, HOPE AND JOY! The reality of heaven, the hope and joy
that it produces in our hearts should be a very powerful motivation to live
life to the fullest extent possible, always having our eyes fixed on the goal
and not swerve to the right or to the left on JESUS. We must focus our eyes,
thoughts and desires on Jesus who is the WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE!
CARRYING THE CROSS VALIENTLY AND
JOYFULLY! If we know why we are here in
this short life and know our final goal and we know the true and everlasting joy
of heaven, then that should help us immensely in living out our Baptismal
commitment. This should help us to
reject the temptations of the devil, the empty promises that the world
constantly entices us with, and to strive to dominate the imperious and
insistent promptings of our animal nature that we call the flesh!
St. Paul encourages us to lift up our
minds and thoughts to the heavenly realm. He also reminds us that the present
afflictions that we are going through cannot be compared to the glory that
awaits the sons and daughters of God.
Therefore, contemplate on the reality
of HEAVEN. This temporal, earthly,
transitory state that we live is so short. Our life is like the flower that
raises its head in the morning and withers and dies as the sun goes down. Our
life is like a breath of smoke blown by the wind. Remember once again the expression of the
great convert Saint Augustine: “Our life in comparison with eternity is a mere
blink of the eye!”
The world promises us temporary
pleasure that ends in sadness, confusion and a state desolation. Jesus offers
us the cross, but the cross leads to victory. The great Venerable Archbishop
Fulton J, Sheen asserted: “There is no
Easter without Good Friday.” He said
there are two philosophies of life: 1) The fast and then the feast; 2) the
feast and then the headache! As
followers of Christ, we choose the way of the cross that will lead us
definitely to the joys of heaven.
May Our Lady, the Queen of angels,
the Queen of Virgins, the Queen of Martyrs, the Queen of the holy Rosary, and
the Queen of saints intercede for us so that one day we might be a jewel in her
crown so that we can contemplate and adore the Face of the Trinity, Father, Son
and Holy Spirit for all eternity. Amen.
