Posted on 11/07/2017 7:57:09 AM PST by Salvation
This is the second in a series of articles on the Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell.
For the faithful, the day we die is the greatest day of our life on this earth. Even if some final purifications await us, the beatific vision for which we long lies just ahead; our exile in this valley of tears is ended.
Is calling the day we die the greatest day of our life too strong a statement? I have seen some fellow Christians wince at this statement. In this age of emphasis on worldly comforts, medicine, and the secular, we rarely speak of Heavenor Hell for that matter. I wonder if we have lost some of our longing for Heaven and cling too strongly to the trinkets of this life.
At the funeral of a relative several years ago, I was approached by a friend of the family. She was an unbeliever, a self-described secular humanist, and she made the following comment to me: Perhaps there is Heaven for the faithful who believe that there is life after death, and perhaps, then, for them the day they die is the greatest day of their life, but I do not observe that Christians live as if they believe this. It seems to me that they are as anxious as anyone else about dying and earnestly seek to avoid death just as much as anyone else.
It was a very interesting observation, one that I found mildly embarrassing even though I quickly thought of some legitimate explanations. Even after giving her some of those explanations, some of the embarrassment lingered as to the kind of witness we Christians sometimes fail to give to our most fundamental values. Based on her remarkand Ive heard it beforemost of us Christians dont manifest a very ardent longing for Heaven.
There are, of course, some legitimate reasons that we do not rush towards death; there are also some less legitimate ones. Here are some legitimate and understandable reasons that we may draw back from dying and may not at first think of the day we die as the greatest day of our life:
Even Jesus, in His human nature, recoiled at the thought of the agony before Himso much so that He sweat blood and asked that the cup of suffering be taken from Him if possible. Manfully, though, He embraced His Fathers will, and our benefit rather than His own. Still, in His humanity, He did recoil at the suffering soon to befall Him.
Despite this hesitancy to meet death, for a faithful Christian the day we die is the greatest day of our life. While we ought to regard the day of our judgment with sober reverence, we should go with joyful hope to the Lord, who loves us and for whom we have longed. That day of judgment, awesome though it is, will for the future saint disclose only that which needs final healing in purgation, not that which merits damnation.
We dont hear much longing for our last day on this earth or for God and Heaven. Instead, we hear fretting about how were getting older. Were anxious about our health, even the natural effects of aging. And there are such grim looks as death approaches! Where is the joy one might expect? Does our faith really make a difference for us or are we like those who have no hope? Older prayers referred to life in this world as an exile and expressed a longing for God and Heaven, but few of todays prayers or sermons speak this way.
Here are some of the not-so-legitimate reasons that we may draw back from dying:
This perfect storm of comfort and worldliness leads to slothful aversion to heavenly gifts. That may be why, when I say that the day we die is the greatest day of our life, or that Im glad to be getting older because Im getting closer to the time when I can go home to God, or that I cant wait to meet Him, people look at me strangely and seem to wonder whether I need therapy.
No, I dont need therapyat least not for this. Im simply verbalizing the ultimate longing of every human heart. Addiction to comfort has deceived and seduced us such that we are no longer in touch with our hearts greatest longing; we cling to passing things. I would argue (as did my family friend) that we seem little different from those who have no hope. We no longer witness to a joyful journey to God that says, Im closer to home. Soon and very soon I am going to see the King. Soon I will be done with the troubles of this world. Im going home to be with God!
There are legitimate, understandable reasons for being averse to dying, but how about even a glimmer of excitement from the faithful as we see that our journey is coming to an end? St. Paul wrote the following to the Thessalonians regarding death: We do not want you to be like those who have no hope (1 Thess 4:13). Do we witness to the glory of going to be with God or not? On the whole, it would seem that we do not.
The video below features a rendition of the hymn For All the Saints Who from Their Labors Rest. Here is a brief passage from the lyrics:
The golden evening brightens in the West,
Soon, soon, to faithful warriors cometh rest.
Sweet is the calm of Paradise most blest. Alleluia!
Monsignor Pope Ping!
Excellent!
I fear pain.
“Sweet is the calm of Paradise most blest.”
God grant that we all see it.
Key to me is the ‘rebuke’ Msgr. Pope received from our Lord at the end of this paragraph:
I remember that at a low point in my own life, afflicted with anxiety and depression, I asked the Lord to please end my life quickly and take me home out of this misery. Without hearing words, I felt the Lords silent rebuke:
Until you learn to love the life you have now, you will not love eternal life. If you cant learn to appreciate the glory of the gifts of this life, then you will not and cannot embrace the fullness of eternal life.
May we remember this reminder when we think all is lost here in this mortal realm.
Thanks for the ping and your comment. I agree.
Very wise words... Thanks for sharing
For me, the words from above were “Love me in all the people around you.”
Basically the same...
Funny one, but true ... Many years ago I was going through hell and turned to God in prayer saying, “God, Please take my ego and end this misery.” I heard an immediate reply, “I don’t want your garbage!”
If man did not fear death there would not be a society as we have it, man fights to live in a world he dies in, and in the process destroys the earth..
God taught this lesson to the Israelis in the desert, though long forgotten, the birds of the field do not sow or reap for food why does man? This is a direct reference to life with God in the desert. We must one day have enough faith to walk through our fears as a commitment to our faith..
The fear of death is satan’ bondage and enslaves all who fall within..
To catch a glimpse of the higher pasture man’s reality must die, man will no longer submit to a supernatural path, the faith does not exist on this earth, what would happen if we all decided, Lord we do not know how to live without you, we would rather sit her next to each other and die than continue the wars and hate we perpetuate as we destroy all.
If man had this faith, would God respond?
to recycle the earth for the next crop of souls, it must burn
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