The Last Things Part 1

During the month of November, the Church ponders The Last Things, that is, the end of our earthly lives and our life after death. We begin by celebrating All Saints’ Day on November 1st, a Holy Day of Obligation. On this day, we rejoice with all the Saints, known and unknown, who, through the mercy and grace of God and aligning their will with His, have attained entry to our Lord’s Heavenly Kingdom. The next day, November 2nd, is All Souls’ Day, where we pray for all those souls, remembered and forgotten, who have passed on from this world and are in Purgatory awaiting entry to Heaven.

For the next few weeks, we will take a look at some of these Last Things: “Where is our Home?”, “What is Purgatory?”, “Preparations for a Funeral”, and “The Communion of the Saints”. Human beings are created in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26), and we were made to dwell with Him. God, because he is infinitely good and loves us the same, knows that His created can only find true peace and true happiness when we are in complete communion with the Creator. He desires this union with us so deeply He gives us a foretaste of it in the Eucharist when He humbly takes the form of bread so that He may physically dwell within our bodies. He has also established a path, a way to attain that complete union in Heaven, through Jesus Christ. Christ has opened the gates of Heaven so we may, after wanting to and striving towards living in accordance with God’s will, can dwell with Him for eternity.

St. Therese of Lisieux, a Carmelite religious sister and Doctor of the Church, often reflected on the phrase, “The world is thy ship, not thy home.” She recognized we were made for more. The trials, sufferings, and even the joys of this world we inhabit are not the end we strive for; they are not what we will have forever. Our focus, our work, our prayer should be centered on attaining Heaven and hoping in God’s abundant mercy to pour forth and help us get there. We should work to conform our hearts and minds to what God asks us to do to become more like Him, participating in the earthly liturgy we currently have, to prepare for the Heavenly liturgy we hope to participate in. This earthly liturgy, which encompasses every moment of our every day, not just when we attend Holy Mass, is one life-long prayer: asking for God’s mercy, thanking him for the gifts he has bestowed, and offering him in return the work of our lives here. What we endure here on Earth, the work we accomplish, is not our goal, our final purpose, or our forever home. This world is merely a passing vessel; we were made for so much more. We were made for Heaven.