From the inception of the Adoration Chapel in our parish and without interruption for nearly five years until a few days before his death, this gentleman came every Saturday morning. Initially, he came for two hours each week - from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. Eventually, another person lent a helping hand by coming in a half-hour early each Saturday morning. That hour and a half was not enough for Mike - he added another hour each week when he joined his wife in the Chapel each Monday evening.

He learned to pray the Rosary there. Oh, how he enjoyed praying the Rosary before the Blessed Sacrament!

Nothing kept him away - not snow, not ice, not radiation treatment, not chemotherapy, not even a terminal illness. Just weeks before his death, he came in at 3 a.m. in obvious discomfort. He was coughing and had some difficulty breathing. But how devoutly he tried to genuflect and bow his head before his beloved Lord. After a while, he settled in his chair, pulled out his favorite little Dominican meditation booklet and began to pray the Rosary. 

He knew that others were willing to cover his hour and a half for him. But he did not want to "inconvenience anyone." Despite the cancer that was raging through his weakened body, "there was no reason for him to give up his hour yet," he said, "except that he was getting a little lazy." His fellow Adorers reminded him of all the prayers being offered for him during this difficult time and of their desire to be helpful to him and to his family. He appreciated everyone's prayers and concerns and simply told us that he did not want to get angry with God. He never did.

"It was okay for you to leave," he said to the person he was relieving. "No need to stay. I'll be fine." Mike was at peace - one with his heavenly Father and blessed Mother. We should have all thanked him then for teaching us how to live and how to die - with absolute trust and faith in a God Who always knew what was best for him. 

My friend spent his last hour before the Blessed Sacrament with his wife five days before he passed away. He died at home surrounded by his loving family and on the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary! How great is our God!

This simple and humble man would have been the first one to admit that there was nothing of any value that he ever did on his own. Anything of value that he did (and he did much of eternal value) was only by and through the grace of God. How abundantly willing He is to provide that grace to those who love Him!

God does not promise those who love him a life here free of trials and tribulations. Time before Him in the Blessed Sacrament is no guarantee of a struggle-free life. But He does promise sufficient graces to carry our daily crosses and, most importantly, eternity with Him for those who love Him.

Mike loved to visit Him. You will too! Our Lord is waiting for you! Please do not disappoint Him - so many who claim to be His followers have and continue to do so. 

Schweitzer, Father Ignatius John. Godhead Here in Hiding Whom I Do Adore: Lay Dominicans Reflect on Eucharistic Adoration. The Lay Fraternity of St. Dominic, Inc, 2023. Pg. 6-8

My body has withered.
My bones are brittle.
My muscles are gone.
My strength has subsided, my stamina has vanished.
I was once mighty, then I became nothing.
By my own hand, the wrinkles form, the frailty transcends, and the rot sets in.
But you O Lord have called me.
You have brought me back to life.
You make me stand.
You give me strength to my body, density to my bones, and life to my spirit.
Your Bread fed my bones and my muscles.
I am faster now.
My new strength surpasses the former.
Over obstacles I hurdle - the distance I jump is great.
Those behind me struggle to keep up, they cannot trail me for long.
But you O Lord, far ahead of me, The One I cannot pass. 

​Schweitzer, Father Ignatius John. Godhead Here in Hiding Whom I Do Adore: Lay Dominicans Reflect on Eucharistic Adoration. The Lay Fraternity of St. Dominic, Inc, 2023. Pg. 100-101

The demon said it would be a blizzard on that day and it did.
Wash away my sins - even those of my children.
Lay your hands upon me and I shall take the name of Paul, for You converted me along the road of destruction, off to death was where I was headed!
My ways and my pride have been cut down with sharp devices and brought low, as You thought it good, O Lord, so that I may serve You as You see fit.
Make me worthy, and I shall bend the knee and open my mouth.
Your flesh into my flesh.
Your blood into my blood.
Flashes of light, everything explained and said, without even a word uttered.
Take up my residence under my roof and dine with me, so that I be in You, and You be in me.
Lord, please help me.
Do not allow me to be tricked by the wicked.
Protect my ears from the gospel of death, the belief in the unbelief, and the pseudo-cult of the worm. 
Give me faith, truth, and hope. Bring me a shield of Your light that shall deflect the words of rot and decay. 

Schweitzer, Father Ignatius John. Godhead Here in Hiding Whom I Do Adore: Lay Dominicans Reflect on Eucharistic Adoration. The Lay Fraternity of St. Dominic, Inc, 2023. Pg. 103

After recently reading the familiar Gospel story about Lazarus and the rich man, I saw the following internet headline: “Pastor who does not believe in hell fired!”  God’s timing is impeccable, isn’t it?
​
My immediate thought after reading this headline was: “and this pastor was caught off guard by his dismissal?”  The sad reality is that it is not just this specific minister, but so many other Christians, including many Catholics (even some of their priests), who have abandoned the fundamental truth that there are eternal consequences to a life lived in unrepentant and unconfessed sin (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, Sections 1033-1041). 

“Our God is far too merciful,” these dissidents argue, “than to banish anyone to an eternity in hell.” What Scripture and what Catechism do they read?

How have we arrived at this state of confusion on such a crucial article of faith? When was the last time you heard a sermon on sin, death, hell, and the last judgment?  Chances are not too recently. Been encouraged to go to confession regularly? How many funerals have you attended where the decedent’s arrival in heaven has been happily and definitely announced?  - far too many, probably.

The only way you can subscribe to a theory of universal salvation is to assume that  God, His Church and the many individuals He has used over the centuries to teach and guide us never really meant what He or they said. You would have to conclude, for example, that the story of Lazarus and the poor man (Luke 16:19-31), the description of the Last Judgment (Matthew 26:31-46), and the Catechism references set forth above were never intended to be taken seriously. Maybe that is why verses 41-46 of Chapter 25 in Matthew are so often excluded when that Gospel is proclaimed in our Churches.

Of course, St. Augustine didn’t really mean it when he said: “God made you without yourself; God redeemed you without yourself; but God will not save you without yourself.”

I am equally as certain that St. Bernard was faking it when with tears he said that “there was hardly one ship out of ten lost on the sea, but on the ocean of life there is hardly one soul saved out of ten.”

What was Ven. Louis Granada, O.P. thinking when he opined that “Men have eyes as keen as those of an eagle in discerning the things of this world, but they are as blind as beetles to the things of eternity?”

Finally, I suspect that the late Father Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S. must have been hitting “the sauce” before he was foolish enough to write the following: “I am sure many lost souls in hell right now would cry out to preachers and writers if they could: Oh, why did you not tell us more about the horrors of hell? Why did you not strike such fear into our hearts by your realistic description of hell that we would have made greater efforts to avoid it?...Why did you spare our feelings in a matter of such eternal moment? Oh, why did you not make hell a thousand times hotter than you did, then perhaps we would not be here today? ”

Where is the zeal for the salvation of souls?

God made us to be with Him eternally. He gives us all the graces we will need to join Him there. We can believe what He teaches, respond to His graces, humble ourselves by confessing and seeking forgiveness for our sins and enjoy eternity in His Presence, or we can reject what He teaches and offers us here on earth and discover to our eternal regret that God never lies. The choice seems so obvious, doesn’t it?

St. Thomas Aquinas reminds us that no one “is in hell who did not have, time after time, the chance of taking heaven in his grasp”.  Father Leo Rudloff, O.S.B. reinforces the Angelic Doctor, when he stresses “that hell is not a blind destiny into which the sinner plunges unawares, but is his self-chosen and fully deserved portion.”

We are entitled to the truth. Our priests and bishops must not hesitate to teach that truth, no matter how uncomfortable it may make them or us.

Oh, how our priests and bishops need our prayerful support and encouragement!

https://harvestingthefruitsofcontemplation.blogspot.com/2011/03/to-hell-with-you.html

​I am blessed to be a Lay Dominican. However, the ideas expressed on this blog are my own and do not represent the endorsement of or position of the Order of Preachers as a whole. I am neither responsible for, nor endorse content (e.g. banner ads, pop-up ads, etc.) that may be linked to this blog.