"The souls of the just are in the hand of God" - A friend named Doug

   "And they will be God's people, and God will be with them. And God will wipe their tears away, and death will be no more." As those words echoed in the Church tonight, my heart jumped and the memories of my friend Doug fell afresh in my mind.
    During the memorial service of all the faithful departed and in the middle of the liturgy of the hours, the priest gave a reflection and then invited all who were willing to share a story of a departed loved one and then proceed to light a candle in their memory. As the people tricked down to the microphone and shared their stories and lit candles, I knew it was time to honor a dear friend. So I followed suit and after briefly sharing my story, I lit the candle in his honor and went back to my sit. But my memories took me back.
   5 years ago, I stood in the porch of my dear friend Doug, looking into the woods and believing that he would be approaching down the driveway anytime.  I stared into the deep for a good while until I realized that he wasn't coming and he would never drive down that driveway again and then my tears flowed down my cheeks like a flood. Yes indeed, the story was true that he had been killed in a car accident the night before by a drunk driver who was driving on the wrong side of the highway just a few miles from his home.  The joy that his wife and kids had felt when he called them and told them he was on the way home from a business trip turned into sorrow and grief for them and so many others.  That evening after realizing that he wasn't coming, A deep sorrow cut into my soul as I remembered his family all too young to loose a husband and a dad. After a few hours as we were leaving the house which was filled with people, I still continued to think that soon, I would receive the news that this was a big confusion, but that never happened. The next few days I grieved in such a manner that up until this time in my life I had never done.  but why? Was it because before this I was used to loosing loved ones to sicknesses that lasted a long time preparing me for their departure while for my friend, death refused to knock at the door and just came rushing in disregarding everyone who would be left? Is this the reason my heart was so broken? While that could be a legitimate reason, my answer lays in how God had used this friend to touch my soul. While indeed I have many a great influences in my life, this influence was different. His love for God and the testimony of his life had left deep imprints in my soul at a fragile time in my life, and I was feeling an acute pain of separation as did many other persons that had known this man of God.
 Tonight on this All Souls Day feast, as I lit that candle in honor of Doug, I knew that although many people have fallen, this friend of mine had fell right into the arms of Jesus whom he loved so much. This comforted me greatly and although I still am sorrowed for the pain that his family still undergoes, I lifted them up to the throne of God who is their comfort and commended them to the prayers of their husband and father, son and son in law.
    Yes indeed this is the story of many, but for our departed loved ones, the story is unique. While I have shed many a tears while reading the lives of great saints like St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Padre Pio, Blessed Mother Theresa of Culcutta and our beloved late Pope Blessed John Paul II, it's the encounter with people like Doug who made a great impact in my life that reminds me that often, God sends into our lives people who are not only saintly but who can inspire us to become saints ourselves.  This is what Doug did for me and even now does through all the memories that never left.  We met in business Doug, but we remain united from our shared love of Our Lord Jesus Christ and while the earlier may fade, the later is everlasting.
     To Doug, all my loved ones who have died and all the faithful departed, God grant them eternal rest and may Your perpetual light shine upon them. And to those of us who are left, Guide us through the darkness of grief and bring us safely to your heavenly kingdom, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Striking a balance between Idealism and Reality

    "The world is ruled by its ideals, those who create the higher ideals lift all mankind."  The same author who wrote the above words has been a big influence in my life after reading a small book he wrote called "can we be saints." In this book, Frank Duff, who is the founder of one of the largest lay organization in the Catholic Church called the Legion of Mary invites the reader to ponder that question. He presents the ideal of Christian perfection and how we are all called to become saints. The first time I read that book, I was ready to get on a plane and go somewhere in the world where they were persecuting Christians and lay my life down as a martyr. The voice of reason persuaded me otherwise, but a few years later, I still realize the importance of subscribing to the ideals that will lead us to fulfillment and bring us to our end which  is union with God.  I have also come to realize the imminent danger of the Church not taking seriously its mission to spread the Gospel.
    In my late teens when most people are looking hard for an identity, I was presented with the ideology of self-help and materialism. Although I am not downing self-help, there lies within it great dangers. Being a nominal "malformed" Catholic who hadn't subscribed to the identity of Christ, I followed suit and that became my identity. Instead of stating that "I can do anything through Christ who strengthens me," I would claim that "I can do anything I set my mind to." The statements are close but while the first attributes its abilities to Christ, the later attributes them to self. Such is the condition of our society today. The bookstores are filled with books that seek to help us become the best we can be even at the expense of our souls. While some have a spiritual component to them, and they are written on the right foundation of becoming what God has destined for us, many if not most of them pull us away from this ideal and lead us on a path that while it promises self-actualization, it leads us to selfish ambitions that bring us to ruins. All was not lost on my part since at the same time, the Lord was penetrating my heart with His grace and started showing me a new set of ideals and heroes. While the wheat and the weed continue to grow together, today I toil on a field whose fruits I pray are eternal.

   Now to come back to our topic, I continue to quote Frank Duff who in the handbook he wrote for the organization he started. "If the young once form the habit of looking for purely worldly or even irreligious systems for the active idealism for which generous natures crave, a terrible harm has been done, for which future generations will pay." Anybody with eyes to see can see that we are already paying for the harm that has been done by the ideology of generations that preceded us and not in the distant past either. The "sexual revolution" of the 60s has yielded the "culture of death" whose influences are a threat to civilization as we know it. This is only one example but not the only one. We must not dwell on the evil since we know that God works out the best in everything for those who love Him, but that does not mean that we close our eyes to the reality and assume everything is okay. 

    The first step is to realize the reality of the opening statement that "the world is ruled by its ideals."  This means that as Christians, we must evangelize the world since we know that the Gospel is the only ideal that will bring about peace. To go even further, we must own to the fact that we are called to become saints, to grow in holiness is not for a chosen few, it's the universal call of all. Like saint Paul put it "This is the will of God, that you may be holy."  

         In my early 20s, I was introduced to this idea of becoming a saint after reading "can we be saints" and my search for something noble which so many young people are looking for came to an end. Like the knights of old who would traverse the lands looking for a worthy king to fight for, and when they found one they would bow down before them and pledge their loyalty, I found a noble King who is our Lord Jesus Christ. Many young people today are searching for an authentic cause and something noble to commit to. I wish to tell them that the answer lies in Christ and should they commit to follow him, they will have found the highest ideal that will transcend both time and space and bring them to everlasting happiness. The practical means of living this ideal is laid our in the doctrines and practices of the Church. 

      Now that we have established this, the reality is that our world today is in dire need of evangelization. The late pope Blessed John Paul II said that this is the time for a "new evangelization".  This presents the young and old alike a great work to engage in. May it be in the home as a mother to her kids, or in the social media, or in the pulpit, "if today you hear God's voice, harden not your hearts."  Our faith constantly calls us to let our actions prove our faith and answering this call is a great opportunity.

    From my restless search of something noble, God has presented to me an answer; in the organization of the Legion of Mary, he has helped me strike a balance between "idealism" and "action"  and I invite the young especially to find a way they can serve the Lord in their neighbor. In the vineyard of the Lord, there is plenty of harvest but the laborers are few. May the love of Christ bring us to peace.

Oh Lord, give us more generous souls who will answer your call.

END TIME PROPHECY, RAPTURE AND ESCAPISM MENTALITY

In the past couple of days, I have been thinking about the recent events of the predictions of the end of the world to the date. I have also been wondering what would be the reason why anyone would assign himself the task of trying to calculate the end of the world. Learning that this person; "Harlod Camping" is a proclaimed Christian almost took me by suprise but really did not shock me. The method of prediction being a mathematical equation was absurd, but although I can't judge his conscience, I can only speculate the motivation of such actions. Abandoning the task of trying to figure out why someone who reads the bible everyday would ignore a verse that Jesus said that "but of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father," (Mark 13:32) I will try to suggest and lay down a few observations from previously being inside circles of Christians who were really into the end time theory of "the rapture."  My first real introduction into this thinking came about as I watched the movie "left behind." Being young and gullible, I might have for one second started to believe what I was watching, but my skeptical mind and by God's grace sound reason started to play the part and I soon dismissed this jargon as a mix of delusion and misguided interpretation.  I didn't stop there in my observation. The Catholic Church being displayed as an evil institution and the Pope as the antichrist only concluded my fear that this was another erroneous private interpretation of the Scriptures. Fast forward a few years to May 2011, and the recent predictions of end time only confirms this for me. When people pick up the Bible and rely totally on their own private interpretations, there arises a great deal of chances for deception. The unfortunate thing is that many people fall prey to these teachings.
        The more I see such things, the more I see the importance of being inside the flock which is the Church and specifically the Catholic Church which is the only church that can rightfully claim the authority it teaches with being from Christ who founded it. To not listen to the voice of truth is to become prey to many false teachers. Indeed how true the words of Christ that "in the last days, there will be many false teachers."  Now, our task doesn't stop at exposing this but it goes further to acting out in charity to our brothers and sisters who have been misled in this way and help them begin to listen to the sound of the true Shepperd. Indeed prayer and love may conquer the evil of divisions among Christians and one day come to the unity that Christ prayed for "that they may be one as We are one."  The only thing we should be worried about doing is to "keep watch" since nobody know the day or the hour that he may return, but like many saints have stated, when He returns, "may He find me at my post."
Oh Lord, have mercy upon your poor children.

Infants, toddlers and the spiritual life

     
One of the greatest tragedies of our times have got to be the countless children who have been denied the opportunity of having any siblings.  Apart from the physical bonds that come from this, it will also deny them a great spiritual reflection that can only come from spending time with children. Being the last of five children myself, I didn't have this opportunity of having a younger sibling, but the lessons that I have learned lately while spending time with my two year old nephew have left me awe struck and has opened my eyes to an expedient strategy by the devil to make sure that the spiritual component of watching children grow is denied to many. I am extremely thankful to God for my parents and siblings, and though I am fully content with my place as the last born, I have lately thought what it would have been like to be the first born and watch all the rest being born and develop through all the inevitable stages that accompany human development. I guess I will never find out what it would have been like, and I will leave that to those who have younger sibling to answer while I move on to my findings of late. Maybe