Are You Prepared?

Recently, a local young man, 19 years of age, died in a tragic accident. I was blessed to serve at a memorial Mass for him. As you might expect, a profound sense of shock, massive grief, and heartfelt loss permeated the consciousness of those in attendance. Neither he, nor his family or friends, had any warning of his death, and no time to prepare for it. But if you’re reading this, there are things you may be able to do to become better prepared for when your time comes.

We Simply Can’t Know When

None of us really knows the day or the hour when we’ll face our particular judgment.  And that’s what Jesus tells us: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” (Mt 25:13).

Some of us, when we were younger, never thought much about our death, or about spiritual preparation for our death. In fact, up to a certain age, many of us probably believed we were pretty bullet proof. Yet, if we are blessed to age and hopefully grow in wisdom, God will work with us, to disabuse us of that notion.

Be Prepared

God not only reminds us through various general, as well as personal, signs that we’re not going to be around forever. He also speaks to us in Scripture about it. He reminds us that we need to be prepared for when that day occurs. For example:

The rich man was so pleased with himself about his great harvest that we planned to build larger barns. “But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’  So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God (Luke 12:20-21).

Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the marriage feast, so that they may open to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes… (Luke 12:35-37).

These are the words of Jesus Christ—He’s telling us to be prepared!

Where Are Our Priorities?

So, are we prepared? And for just what are we prepared? How do we prioritize what we are pursuing in our lives right now? One’s age should not matter in how we prioritize our efforts. Good priority-setting applies to all age groups. But, if like me, you’re approaching the top of the mortality tables, this should be even more urgent.

At In-Ipso, an apostolate in the Denver Archdiocese, we teach that we laity need to prioritize our lives by focusing first on our relationship with God, then second on our vocation/family, followed by our occupation or job. Ministry work would follow in fourth place, and hobbies would be the lowest priority.

Where’s Our Heart?

But It seems that the secular culture tells us what’s most important is our job. After the job, then perhaps our hobbies would be important. In other words, work really hard and long hours, make lots of money and then be sure to treat yourself to a good time with some of it—if you can take time away from work to enjoy the rewards, that is.

Building wealth and resources for long-term support—kids’ education, ultimate retirement, etc.—is not inherently bad. Acquiring a new vacation home, buying a new car or boat—all of these are okay in and of themselves. Yet, let’s not forget what Ecclesiastes tells us:

..sometimes a man who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by a man who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. ²² What has a man from all the toil and strain with which he toils beneath the sun? ²³ For all his days are full of pain, and his work is a vexation; even in the night his mind does not rest. This also is vanity (Ecclesiastes 2:20-23).

In other words, why are we doing this? Where is our heart in all of this? What’s most important to us? We can go ahead and build the new barns for the abundant harvest, metaphorically speaking. But, how’s our relationship with Our Lord?

But, I’m a Good Person

Now some of us may be thinking, “I’m okay—I’m a good person. God’s good and merciful. He loves me. So, my relationship with Him probably is pretty good.” Really? At the Mount of the Beatitudes, Jesus told us all to, “…be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:48) Of course, we cannot, as finite humans, be as perfect as God, the infinite Sovereign of the Universe is. Rather, we must respond to grace and follow and imitate Him as our role model. In other words, this verse is the “universal call to holiness.”

And we ought to sit up and take notice here. Jesus isn’t saying that we ought to “consider,” or that we might “prayerfully reflect on,” or we ought to “try.” He’s telling us in a straightforward, simple manner what we are to do. In other words, this is a command. We do God’s will by following His commands out of love for Him.

Hell Exists and Souls Go There

We have a free will. We can choose to do God’s will or to reject it. Either choice has consequences. The current culture, under the influence of the devil, wants us to believe that there’s no downside for rejecting God’s will. Of course—the devil wants us to join him in his misery for eternity when our time here is up. And it’s not because he likes us, or because we’re “good persons.” He hates us because he hates God, in whose image and likeness we are made.

There is a hell. Make no mistake about it. Various saints have described being given a glimpse of it in order to warn us that it exists and that we should do everything in our power, with God’s grace, to avoid it. Scripture mentions it multiple times. In Luke 13:24, Jesus tells us, “Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”  Not only does it exist, but MANY will seek to enter and will not be able. Msgr. Charles Pope addresses all this and more in his book, The Hell There Is. If one has any doubts about this topic, this brief book is a great resource.

Some Will Go to Hell

Many will seek to enter heaven but will not be able. Yet, our culture, and unfortunately, some religious, clergy and theologians would have us believe that virtually everyone goes to heaven. This is known as “universalism.” Dr. Ralph Martin addresses all of this in his book, Will Many Be Saved. In it he refers to a First Things essay that Cardinal Avery Dulles wrote on this topic. Cardinal Dulles states in part:

The constant teaching of the Catholic Church supports the idea that there are two classes: the saved and the damned. Three general councils of the Church (Lyons I, 1245; Lyons II, 1274; and Florence, 1439) and Pope Benedict XII’s bull Benedictus Deus (1336) have taught that everyone who dies in a state of mortal sin goes immediately to suffer the eternal punishments of hell. This belief has perdured without question in the Catholic Church to this day, and is repeated almost verbatim in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC §1022, 1035).

The issue is one of contention among some theologians. But the question we each need to ask ourself, appropriating and adapting a line from Clint Eastwood’s Inspector Callahan, is: “Do I feel lucky? Well—do I?” What if I believe either that there is no hell or that even if there is, virtually no one goes there—but it turns out that there is, and my life choices got me a one-way ticket to it?

It’s Ultimately Our Choice

Avoiding eternal separation from God (hell) is a choice we make with every action we take. We may want to consider: Is what I’m thinking, saying or doing, bringing me closer to, or further away from, God? Do I want to grow closer to God? We don’t grow relationships of any kind by ignoring the other person. It takes some time together. That time with God is called prayer.  As well, getting back to the sacraments if I’ve been away is a key component to being prepared.

The Desert Fathers and the monastics who came after them kept their eyes focused on the prize—on eternal beatitude. To that end, they found that reflecting on death aided them in making good choices. St. Benedict, for example, tells us to, “To keep death daily before one’s eyes.” (RB 4:47). Ignoring death won’t keep it away. Ignoring what we need to address to get our souls in order won’t prepare us for death.

The devil wants us to think that either it doesn’t matter, or if it does, that it’s too late—that we can’t possibly do anything about it.  There’s a reason he’s called the father of lies. Ignore him. Keep your eyes on Jesus Christ.

Go ahead and continue to make prudent worldly decisions. But don’t place worldly things ahead of heavenly ones. While we’ve still got time, we can reprioritize what we need to. We never know the day or the hour. God is merciful, but He requires our cooperation with His mercy. Given what’s at stake, we should cooperate with a sense of responsible urgency. Die a holy death; live the way you want to die.

I saw the torments of hell and those of purgatory; no words can describe them. Had poor mortals the faintest idea of them, they would suffer a thousand deaths rather than undergo the least of their torments during a single day ( St. Catherine of Siena).