NO CRYING AT MY FUNERAL

NO CRYING AT MY FUNERAL
Showing posts with label Purgatory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Purgatory. Show all posts

Thursday, November 1, 2018

THE BEGINNING IS THE DOOR TO THE END -- LE DÉBUT EST LA PORTE À LA FIN


Here we are, at the end of another liturgical year.  It is November and we are living in the commemoration of those who have gone before us.  We Catholics are sure that every year we will spend a month of our lives preparing for the birth of Our Lord and Savior by reflecting on the mystery of the spiritual life for which we are all preparing.  We pray for our own understanding of this mystery by offering our own joys and sorrows to those who have already reached the rest of their existence in eternity. 
We lift up our hearts and souls to God in a search for deeper personal understanding of the Crossing, all the while asking Him to burnish those who have died and are still in the process of being purified for their entry into the final, glorious and everlasting face-to-face beatific vision.  With our soul and heart reaching out to Him, we take the opportunity to thank Him for the grace of purification, purgation if you will, so that our beloved who are in Purgatory being prepared for their entry into His Divine Presence can "graduate" as quickly as possible.
This period of our life on earth is also a moment of "Purgatory".  It is a moment when we fearlessly look death in the eye and ask God to teach us about it.  It is our opportunity to prepare ourselves spiritually for the inevitable experience.  It is a moment that the Church provides for us every single year, just one month before we get to prepare ourselves for the arrival of the One who is coming to assure us that Eternal Happiness is in fact, possible for us.  Every year, for as long as we live, we are taught by our Faith that the beginning always starts with our heart and mind focused on the end.  Not just with what regards heaven, but for anything that we do in life.  Anything that we do, we do because we desire the result.  
Therefore, let us spend this time in the company of the souls of the Communion of Saints, praying and suffering along with them.  This way, we will all share in the cleansing preparation required for the entry into Eternal Glory in the Divine Presence of God.  
Along the way, remember, there is to be no crying at my funeral.


Nous voici à la fin d'une autre année liturgique. Nous sommes déja au mois de  novembre et nous vivons la commémoration de ceux qui nous ont précédés. Nous, catholiques, sommes certains de passer a chaque année, un mois de notre vie à nous préparer à la naissance de notre Seigneur et Sauveur en réfléchissant au mystère de la vie spirituelle à laquelle nous nous préparons tous. 
Nous prions pour notre propre compréhension de ce mystère en offrant nos propres joies et peines à ceux qui ont déjà atteint le reste de leur existence dans l'éternité.
Nous élevons nos cœurs et nos âmes vers Dieu dans la recherche d'une compréhension personnelle plus profonde de la Traversée, tout en lui demandant de polir ceux qui sont morts et qui sont encore en train d'être purifiés pour leur entrée dans le monde final, glorieux et éternel. La vision béatifique, face-à-face. Avec notre âme et notre cœur, nous saisissons cette occasion pour le remercier de la grâce de purification, de purgation, si vous le souhaitez, afin que notre bien-aimé qui se trouve dans le Purgatoire soit préparé à son entrée dans a la Présence Divine aussi tôt que possible.
Cette période de notre vie sur terre est aussi un moment de "purgatoire". C'est un moment où nous regardons sans peur la mort dans les yeux et demandons à Dieu de nous apprendre ce qu'elle signifie. C'est notre opportunité de nous préparer spirituellement à l'expérience inévitable. C’est un moment que l’Église nous accorde chaque année, un mois avant que nous puissions nous préparer à l’arrivée de Celui qui vient nous assurer que le bonheur éternel est en fait possible pour nous. Chaque année, aussi longtemps que nous vivons, notre foi nous apprend que le commencement s'engage toujours avec notre cœur et notre esprit concentrés sur la fin. Pas seulement avec ce qui concerne le ciel, mais pour tout ce que nous faisons dans la vie. Tout ce que nous faisons, nous le faisons parce que nous désirons le résultat.
Par conséquent, passons ce temps en compagnie des âmes de la Communion des Saints, priant et souffrant avec elles. De cette façon, nous participerons tous à la préparation de la purification nécessaire pour entrer dans la Gloire Éternelle dans la Présence Divine.
En chemin, souvenez-vous, il n'est pas permi de verser les larmes a mes funérailles.


Wednesday, November 12, 2014

DEFEND MY FAITH? I DON'T HAVE TO

I have arrived at a point in my life that has me thinking that people who are looking for ways to defend their faith don’t know what that attitude means.  I certainly have no need to defend my faith.  In the first place, there is no one in the world who can make a serious enough attack against my faith to make me need to defend it.  The only attack against my faith is an attack on my very life. 
My faith is not something that I have that can be taken from me.  It is not something that is separate from my being.  It is so deeply woven into me that it is not a possession, a process, a relationship or a blood type.  It is life itself.
For as long as I can remember, and, I am convinced, even before some of my memories, I have lived faith together with God the Trinity and with the Holy Mother of Jesus, begotten Son of God and birthed Son of Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit.  I was baptized nine days after birth.  Never a day of my existence did I survive outside of the presence of God thanks to the shared faith of my mother, father and the rest of the family.  I have never known another life than that of a credulous son of God.  I have nothing to defend.

I can talk about God all day and all night.  Never once will I get defensive.  Aggressive, yes.  Defensive? Never.  My life of faith is a life in community.  My life is within the Communion of Saints.  My life is within the communion of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.  It has always been thus.  I feel no need to defend this.  It cannot be taken from me except through physical death.  Nothing can threaten my faith.  Nobody can threaten my faith.  I know that because I have experienced threats to my life along the way.  Faith and I never wavered.  I have listened to overtures from several distinct types of “missionaries” who were aiming their non-Catholic wiles at me.  I didn’t need to defend my faith.  It was, and still is, my faith that sent them packing with their tails between their legs and their Bibles, still closed, under their arms.

I don’t need a Bible to talk about God and my life with and in God.  I don’t spend my time looking for the right chapter and verse for the right answer.  I proclaim my faith from the heart and soul of my being.  I live with my Bible in the comfort of our home shrine or in a corner pew in the chapel, alone with my Eucharistic God.  God is on my mind a lot and He is my life all the time. What is there to defend?  My Bible?  Not mine.  You can have it if you want.  All the pages are still nice and white.  No highlighter colors, underlines nor marginal notes.  All those things are not necessary.  I don’t have to memorize the page number, the chapter, the verse or any other material thing.  All I need is to enrich my life in and with God.  I don’t live my life in chapters and verses.  I live my life with the Person who comes to life from the pages and fills my soul with a deeper understanding of who He is.  It is He who created me, who saved me and who is sanctifying me.  I don’t have to defend my faith, it is my faith that defends me.  So I leave my Bible at home and speak from the heart and soul about my life in God.  So what’s to defend?

Where do I spend my life in God?  In the Communion of Saints as defined by the Catholic Church.  That includes getting familiar with God and with His friends the angels, the saints in heaven and suffering souls of purgatory and the militant priests, prophets and kings living in time on earth.  I get to know a lot about Him every day.  Every day we talk is enriching for me.  Every day we spend together even without talking much is still a good and enriching day.  Do I have to defend that?

On a good day I get to spend some time with Him at His special abode.  I get to celebrate the Sacrifice of our Salvation in His memory.  I don’t get to enjoy that grace every day because of my work schedule.  However, some two or three days a week I can find time to offer the Divine Sacrifice side by side with the Lamb of God and in the presence of His Chosen People gathered around the altar of the Eucharistic Sacrifice.  It is a profound experience at every instance.  It is a dynamic, grace-filled moment being together with God among his living saints; with God through His Sacred Word and with God in the Divine presence of the Eucharist.  The shared faith of the gathering of the righteous around the altar doesn’t need any defending because it is the protection of the faithful not the weakness. 

I don’t have to defend my faith.  I certainly don’t have to use a disfigured Bible to help me defend it.  My faith is my life.  You have permission to attack my faith to your heart’s content.  Have at it.  I don’t need to defend my faith, God does it for me. 


That’s why there will be no need for you to cry at my funeral.