Imagine…
You get a call that you have received an all-expense paid-vacation to paradise! All you have to do is say yes! Would you say yes? Would you go begrudgingly? Are you the type of person that would be a wreck while packing, but then not want to leave once you got there? Would you be happy if a loved one was given this gift or would you beg them not to go?
The other day I heard a story that took place in the 40s. It was about a young 20-year-old who was on death row. To make a long story short, he didn’t know anything about God and had a visitation from the Blessed Mother one night while in his cell. That visitation caused him to want to embrace Jesus and the Catholic faith. It ended up that not only did he convert, but many others in the prison did as well. On the night before his execution, he was asked what his last wish was. They would accommodate it as best they could. His wish was to have a party with all the inmates. He wanted to celebrate with them that he was going to Heaven. He was so excited! He had his party and immediately after was told he was given a two week stay. He cried like a baby. He asked what he had done wrong. He so badly wanted to go home. The thought of waiting two more weeks was extremely painful. A priest suggested that he unite his suffering of having to remain on Earth to the sufferings of Jesus on the cross and offer it as a prayer for a fellow inmate who was the next to be executed. That inmate refused to except Christ. The sorrowful inmate did just that and two weeks later, to his delight he was sent to see Jesus and the Blessed Mother via his execution. Three months later the inmate he was praying for was to be executed as expected. Right up to the end he refused to except Christ. While on the chair and with seconds left, he belted out a bloodcurdling scream and then asked for a priest. He wanted him to hear his confession. He wanted to say he was sorry and accept Jesus. When asked what changed his mind, he said that he saw the Blessed Mother and his friend who was recently executed. They told him this was his last chance to accept Jesus and if he didn’t, they showed him his place in hell. That’s when he screamed.
This story showed me two things. First there is great power in uniting our sufferings to Jesus and offering them as a prayer for others. The sufferings we are tied to are not electric chairs, but we do find ourselves daily bound to some sort of suffering. Great or small, we shouldn’t waste the opportunity of using them for the powerful prayer that they are.
The second thing that it showed me was how far we have removed ourselves from our ultimate purpose in life… to know God, love Him and serve Him here so we can be with Him for all eternity. We say we know that we die and go to Heaven. We know it is just our body that remains here… not us. We say we love God. We say all this and that we want to go to Heaven, but when the opportunity is given to us we don’t want to go. We certainly do not see it as an opportunity. We grieve when we lose someone understandably, but we don’t think much about how happy they are. We certainly don’t say let’s have a going away party. We wait until they are gone before we gather. We say one thing, but cling to another. We do everything we can to save our lives, but do not rejoice when we know it is our time to go home or the time for a loved one to depart. I’m not saying we don’t do all we can to get healthy when we are sick. We absolutely must. We must make sure our love ones do too, but showing sorrow and fear is not what you would expect when someone believes in paradise and then is offered it.
Can you imagine being excited about dying? Can you imagine living in a culture where we would want a going away party to celebrate our impending death? Can you imagine the relief that would be in the hearts of our family if they saw us happy to go? Can you imagine the world we would live in if more people offered their sufferings as a prayer for the salvation of others so we could all be in Heaven? Can you imagine living in a world where we contemplated what Heaven would be like so we would want to go when it was time? Can you imagine living in this life knowing that Jesus conquered death and you were never going to die as a result? Can you imagine spending your time on Earth with one thing on your bucket list…to fill it with love because love is the only thing you can take with you and you would know that it is better to bring along a bucket full of love rather than a thimble full? Can you imagine a world where we all tried to fill an ocean sized bucket with love? Can you imagine a world where you weren’t crippled up in fear of dying, but instead trusted that God would send for you when it was your time and your job was to just get out and pack that bucket so you were ready when He called? Can you imagine living what Jesus taught about saving your life only coming by losing it through self giving? Maybe if that is how we lived, we wouldn’t be fearful of death and we would celebrate when someone’s bucket was full and they were journeying home.
So now let’s go back to the beginning. If you were told you were going to go on an all expense paid vacation to paradise, would you jump at the chance? If you were told everyone at home would be fine and you were going to be treated like royalty, would you jump at the chance? If you were told at some point you would join your family members who would one day also win paradise, would you happily say goodbye? Are you prepared to say yes if paradise isn’t the vacation, but Heaven? Most of us aren’t, but if we contemplated Heaven on a regular basis, maybe when it was time, like the inmate, we too would want to celebrate what was to come instead of fearfully clinging to what pales by comparison.
Prayerfully reflect on the following and talk to God about them. Freely give a Him your heart.
“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the Gospel will save it.” Mark 8:35
Jesus conquered death. Meditate on 1Corinthians 15:51-55
Jesus’s suffering and death saved us. Meditate on suffering, whether small or large, being a prayer.
How would your life be different if the only thing you thought of was how you could fill your bucket with love?
How would your life be different if you offered your sufferings for the salvation of those you love?
Have you ever been nervous about going somewhere, but then had such a great time once there that you didn’t want to leave? How might that compare with not wanting to leave Earth.
Prayerfully reflect on Heaven.
Prayerfully reflect on any of the questions cited in this reflection.