PASSING TO THE OTHER SIDE: WHY IT WILL FEEL LIKE 'HOME'

There are many mansions. There are hovels and huts and basements and small homes. There are lonely apartments. There are grand edifices. We move into our state of mind. 

 

Everyone reading this has a chance to turn their state of mind into Heaven.

The very last decision a non-believer can make in a state of earthly free-will is whether he finally accepts the Lord now that he faces eternity.

There is that one last chance – which is why prayers must be said for the dying no matter how hostile they have been to religion.

The Blessed Mother has said to “pray daily for the souls in purgatory. For every soul, prayer and grace are necessary to reach God and the love of God. By doing this, dear children, you obtain new intercessors who will help you in life to realize that all the earthly things are not important for you, that only Heaven is that for which it is necessary to strive. Therefore, dear children, pray without ceasing that you may be able to help yourselves and the others to whom your prayers will bring joy.” 

Sometimes the call for prayer comes in dreams, when the veil is thin.

“I want to share a very powerful story with you that occurred a little over a year ago,” a woman from Shakopee, Minnesota, named Angela Howick wrote me. “It begins with a dream I had. 

 

“This dream was very different and I woke up with an intense desire to pray. I dreamed that I walked into a large room and it was filled with many deceased family members and friends. Although I could not see faces or physical bodies, I knew every single one of them. It was as if I knew their souls. 

 

“I left the room and went down a small hallway. There in the hallway was my recently deceased uncle sitting on a bench. He was staring towards the sky and did not even look at me. I was very excited to see him and immediately said ‘Freddy!  What are you doing?’ He responded in a very calm yet discontent voice, saying, ‘I am waiting.’ This was not the response I was expecting. My uncle was a very happy go-lucky, loud man who was always excited to see anyone. I asked him again, ‘Freddy, what are you doing?’ 

“He looked down at me and we locked eyes. His response was the same: ‘I am waiting.’ He then continued to stare towards the sky.  

 

“At that moment I knew what he was waiting for. He was waiting to be released from purgatory. In that moment I woke up and knew he needed prayers.  

“A couple of weeks later, I called my aunt to discuss having a Gregorian Mass said for him. I was surprised to find out that she was actually having many Gregorian Masses said for several deceased relatives and friends. She had even already called in the Masses, including one for my uncle. My aunt gave me the list of names and dates for when their Masses would start, so that I could unite my prayers and intentions with them.  I wrote down all the names and dates.

“Later that night, I was praying and I realized that all of the names she had mentioned to me were the souls I saw in my dream. One particular name stood out for me. This was her father-in-law (let’s call him Bert), a man who died before I was born. Even though, I had never seen a picture of him or thought about him before, I know that he was in that room in my dream, along with all of the other people on the list for Masses. 

“A few weeks later, I was praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, while driving to Mass and when I got to the very last ‘Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world,’ I was overcome by an enormous sense of peace and joy. 

 

All of a sudden I started to cry because of this joy. I was not just shedding a few tears. I was wailing. I called out to the Lord, ‘Why do I feel this way?’  Then I heard three names: ‘Freddy, Hermie, and Bert were released from purgatory.’ I looked at the clock, 10:30 a.m. I knew that someone’s Gregorian Masses were ending that day, but I couldn’t remember whose.  When I returned home, I looked at the list of names and dates and discovered that was the day the Masses for those three people had finished.”

Alone in the dark – if only briefly – those who have strayed from the Lord are there to contemplate themselves.

In that contemplation is the truth of the situation and the need for prayers.

There are no more masks.

No longer can one hide behind a smile or hypocrisy or materialism.

We go where we think. 

 

We step into the love we created.

With that love, said the Blessed Mother, we will not even feel the transition. 

 

“If you would abandon yourselves to me, you will not even feel the passage from this life to the next life,” was her incredible promise to a locutionist. “You will begin to live the life of Heaven from this earth.”

Source: Spiritdaily

Work To Sanctify Your Soul

Fr. Ed Broom, OMV

 

Work is good for us! Why? Jesus taught us the importance of work by spending most of His time on earth in Nazareth with Mary His Mother and Saint Joseph, His foster-father. Among the many activities that Jesus carried out was that of WORK.   True! Saint Joseph taught Jesus the hard and demanding work of a carpenter. No electric helps back then!  Nailing, and sawing and sanding and adjusting wood to construct tables, doors, chairs, etc. This indeed was hard-work.

In my private meditations I have often imagined Jesus and Saint Joseph arriving home after a hard-day’s work. Imagine them. Exhausted, drenched with sweat, their hair filled with saw-dust, their hands grimy and calloused. This was not on occasions, but day after day.

This being the case, in a world where the importance of the work-ethic has largely gone by the wayside, where many choose the easy-path of not working or cutting corners, where laziness and indolence is all the more prevalent, we would like to present positive reasons why we should truly value work in its many dimensions, shapes and forms and embrace the work ethic all the days of our short lives on earth. St. Paul says, “Work out your salvation in fear and trembling.”  Saint Albert Hurtado stated: “There are two places to rest while on earth: the cemetery and heaven.”  Let us work hard in this short stay on earth and then we can rest forever in heaven with Jesus, Mary and good Saint Joseph.

Following are some reasons to motivate us to embrace a more serious work ethic so as to perfect our lives on a human level, but even more on a spiritual level. Here are five specific points to motivate us.

Imitation of Jesus and Mary.   At Nazareth, where Jesus spent most of His life on earth, He lived the family life, which consisted of loving and obeying His parents, prayer to His heavenly Father, but also Jesus worked and He worked hard—that of a carpenter. Therefore, one very clear reason for work is to imitate Jesus, Mary and St. Joseph; they are our models in everything and that includes dedication to work.  The three of them worked hard, orderly and methodically and for the honor and glory of God. Such should be our work ethic!

Charity Towards Others. Another reason and positive effect of work well-done is that it can be turned into a service of love towards others. An industrious mother and wife that spends long hours in the kitchen both cooking, preparing and cleaning can indeed be very hard work, but it can also be an act of service towards others as well as an act of charity. Saint Paul reminds us to purify our motives: “Whether you eat or drink do all for the honor and glory of God.”

Avoid the Many Temptations of Sin.  Saint John Bosco, the well-known patron of the young, experienced a mortal fear every year at the same time.  Vacation time for the young! Why? For the simple reason that many of his young would leave the Oratory, where the young worked hard all year at study, sports and other activities, and now they would return to a home where they had too much free time.  The proverb rings so true: “Idleness is the workshop of the devil.”  If the young person does not have anything to do then the devil will give him a lot to do in great abundance. Hard work and diligence in work is a key means to conquer the devil and his allies.

Eternity and Eternal Recompense. The Word of God teaches us constantly that we will get our reward or punishment on the quality of our lives and how we utilize out time, treasures and talents. Look at the lives and the example of the saints and how hard they prayed, but also how hard they worked. The motto of Saint Benedict was Ora et Labora, which is translate as “pray and work.” The great Doctor of the Church and patron of moral theologians and great lover of Mary, St. Alphonsus, made a private vow which consisted of simply this: not wasting a moment of his life. Honestly, all of the saints strive to live the spirit of this private vow of Saint Alphonsus. Life is short and time indeed is of the essence.  A modern Chilean and Jesuit Saint, who died in his early fifties of pancreatic cancer, Saint Alberto Hurtado expressed it succinctly: “There are two places to rest: the cemetery and heaven.”

A Good Example to Others.  We all know how true it is that we often follow the example of others, be it for good or be it for evil. The Hispanics have a proverb: “El ejemplo arrastra”—translated: “Example drags or pulls!” As a child I actually hated Saturday mornings for the simple reason that my father made me, my older brother and then eventually the younger ones work and work hard. I indeed hated Saturdays. However, I do have to admit that the boys worked hard but saw the harder work and example of Dad. In all honesty, he worked harder and better than his sons.  In other words, he preached the ethic of work, not so much by many words, but by the power of example, his own hard work-ethic.

Source: Catholic Exchange

MANY ARE THE STATES OF SUFFERING, SOME REDEMPTIVE, SOME PURGATORIAL, SOME CAUSED BY EVIL SPIRITS

Suffering can be reduced to three main types, when it has a mystical root:

Suffering brought to the victim soul (on behalf of mankind).

Expiating suffering, to purge past darkness (suffering as deliverance, even purgatory on earth).

And suffering caused by evil spirits.

It is often a mystery, of course, which type we are encountering. Don't automatically assume it's one or the other. It may be in God's Plan. It also may not. 

There are also the sufferings caused by simple physiological, emotional, and mental adversities. We all realize that.

But let's stay in the realm of the spirit.

It may well be that people with various illnesses are in those afflictions being offered an opportunity to unite their sufferings with those of Christ for the redemption of their own souls or those of others. Such suffering does not have to be obvious. In fact, much of the worst suffering is mental. There is anxiety. There is obsession. There is the feeling of inferiority. There is insecurity. There is oppression. There is depression.

Many, many sufferings are thus hidden. 

 

If you can't judge a book by its cover, neither can you judge a person's state of suffering.

We all have crosses in life. One day we may even find out that the crosses we are asked to bear -- though far different (and greatly variable, as far as visibility) -- are basically equal. Suffering parts the curtain of blindness as the suffering of Jesus caused a rent in the veil of the Temple (Matthew 27:51). We see differently. Why does suffering purge us? It separates us from the flesh. We are granted a new (and often higher) perspective. On a cross, we are elevated. 

When separated from the flesh we begin to see with the eyes of eternity.

Suffering (which includes fasting) should open the soul for release of impurities.

Expiation.

Then again, there is suffering caused by the devil. Don't underestimate his role. He hooks into our weaknesses.

We know this from Jesus Christ: the majority of those He healed were made well after an evil or "unclean" spirit was cast out. Go back and study each of Jesus' healings. Isn't it remarkable how infrequently you hear about the spiritual aspect? He did no surgery. He did not write prescriptions. His healing depended on a spirit being cast out: deliverance. The intellectual approach to religion in our time negates this notion (we need to hear about this more from the pulpit), but spirits can cause virtually any ailment, from allergies to malignancies (they are malignant spirits).

When we take ill we should cast spirits out in the Name of Jesus (and by name: for example: "spirit of arthritis"; or in general: "spirit of infirmity") along with following prudent medical advice.

It comes down to balance. 

So does our health: when we are in spiritual, emotional, and physical balance, good health is usually the fruit. The body can be the soul's harbinger. Praying for "balance" -- balance, balance, balance -- should be a goal of Lent! 

Right now our society is in a state of extremism and imbalance and we take only the physical approach to healing.

It must go beyond that.

We can never judge a person's spiritual state nor why or how he or she is suffering. A person can be born with a bad spirit as surely as he can be born with troubled DNA. Or hit by a virus. It may not be the fault of the person's whatsoever: He or she may be carrying the weight of family spiritual baggage. It may be that person's mission in life to dispel it. This is hidden martyrdom -- hidden often even from the person.

At other times, there is no doubt that wrong practices -- illicit sexuality, the occult, theft, negativity, gossip, lust, gluttony, addiction, lack of love, hatred, pride -- serve as spiritual entry points. Underline the word ego. Pride is a root sin. Humility searches for the pride that is hidden.

Once inside, spirits can then root, grow like a weed, and cause torments -- physical and mental. 

During Lent, the Blood of Christ and His fasting in the desert can bring us special power to turn sin into ash and heal afflictions. 

Resource: Spirit Daily

 

Lord Jesus Christ, have Mercy on your children............ AMEN

Ten Tips for the Best Lent

Fr. Ed Broom

 

 

God gives in abundance, always, in all times and in all places! His goodness manifests itself most abundantly in His Mystical Body, the Church and concretely in the Church Liturgical Year.

The two strong times of the year are Advent, which culminates in Christmas, and Lent which culminates in Holy Week and in the Risen Lord Jesus. To experience the fullness of the Paschal Mystery—the passion, death, and Resurrection of Jesus—we must live with generous heart and openness of spirit the season of Lent. Lent is both a gift and a Season of abundant graces.

Why not decide right now to live this Lent with total generosity of heart, mind, soul, body, and emotions? Let us live out these forty days of graces and blessings as if it were to be the last Lent in our lives!  Our life is short and time flies by and the clock never ticks backwards.

We will offer ten simple Lenten practices so that indeed this Lent will be the best Lent in our lives. “If today you hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts…”

1.   Prayer.  Instead of being Martha this Lent why not try to imitate Mary of Bethany. What did Mary do, as Martha nervously and frenetically rushed to and fro? Mary simply sat at the feet of Jesus, looked at Jesus intently, listened attentively to His words, carried on a friendly and loving conversation, and simply loved Jesus. In Lent why not make the proposal- in imitation of Mary of Bethany—to pray a little bit more and better! Prayer delights the Heart of Jesus!

2.  Reconciliation and Peace. If it is such that there is some person in your life that you have bitterness towards, resentment, maybe even hatred, then Lent is a most propitious time to reconcile. Build a bridge and knock down the barrier!  In marriage homilies I often say to those about to be married that the three most important shorts phrases that couples should learn are: “I love you!”  “I am sorry!” and “I forgive you!”  Lent is time to throw out the old and rotting yeast and to be renewed in our social relationships!

3. Penance. Jesus said unequivocally:  “Unless you do penance you will perish.” Give up something you like for love of God and for the salvation of souls.  By saying “No” to self, we say “yes” to the invasion of God in our hearts! Beg the Holy Spirit for light to give up what is most pleasing to God!

4. The Bible,The Word of God. In the holy seasons of Advent and Lent the Church warmly exhorts us to have a real hunger for the Word of God. Jesus in response to the first temptation of the devil responded:  “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”  May this Lenten season be motivated by a daily meditation of the Word of God! Use a prayer method suggested by Pope Benedict XVI called Lectio Divina: read, meditate, contemplate, pray, and action—put into practice the good insights you have received. This will result in a transformation of life; as St. Paul asserted:  “It is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me.”

5. Alms-giving.  Lent is a time to give, especially to the poor, sick, marginalized and the rejected of society. Remember Pope Francis’ many gestures of loving the poor, kissing the repulsive and rejected of the world. “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do to me.”

6.  The Three T’s.  Following up on almsgiving why not examine your life in these three areas and see where and how you can give, as Blessed Mother Teresa said: “Give until it hurts!”  Time! Give of your time to others. Start at home because charity begins at home. Talents!  We all have talents. Lent is time to conquer our laziness and work diligently to cultivate our God-given talents.  “Better to wear out then rust out!” Treasures! If you have an excess of food, clothing, money and material possessions, give and give. You are giving to Jesus in the poor!

7. Joy. Be joyful!  Try to implement this acronym: J. O. Y.   J—stands for Jesus!  O—stands for others; Y—stands for you! If we put Jesus first, then others second and finally ourselves as last then we will experience the joy of the Holy Spirit and it will overflow on the others we meet!

8. Daily Mass and Communion. By far the best way we could possibly live out the Holy Season of Lent is by drawing close to Jesus as possible. In Holy Mass and Holy Communion, not only do we draw close to Jesus, but we actually receive Him into the very depths of our being, our inner sanctuary which is our soul. However, go to Mass and Holy Communion with intentions, especially to repair for sin and prevent sin. Why did Jesus suffer so much in His bitter Passion?  St. Ignatius of Loyola gives us the two fundamental reasons: 1) To show us the malice and evil of the reality of sin; 2) to show us the depths of His love for all of humanity and for each one of us individually.   Offer your Mass and Holy Communion in reparation for your past sins as well as in reparation for the sins of your family. Morally speaking also our Holy Mass and Communion could and should be offered in reparation for the sins of abortion—shedding the  blood of the most innocent and vulnerable and then in reparation for the widespread practice of homosexuality which tears apart the basic building block of society—the family!

9. Conquer Your Own Devil.  All of us have our own kryptonite— our weak point where we easily fall. But also we all have our own devil that attacks us— often going for our weak point.  Check out where the devil attacks most. You might just go through the Capital sins and see where the devil has an opening.  Gluttony? Lust? Greed? Sloth/Laziness? Anger? Envy? Pride?  In Lent we are soldiers enlisted in the arm of Christ the King. Time to fight against our personal devil with the strength of Jesus the King. We are weak, but God is strong. Nothing is impossible for God!

10. Mary and Lent. Try to live a strongly Marian Lent. Pray the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary as well as the Rosary dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows. View the movie of Mel Gibson, “The Passion of the Christ” where Mary’s role is significant. Make the Way of the Cross, walking with Our Lady of Sorrows. Strive in Lent to live these holy days through the eyes of Mary and with the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.

In conclusion, my friends, if we can choose to live out these proposals with generosity of spirit, this will be the most holy of all our Lents. We will be able to live out the fullness of the Paschal Mystery—to suffer and die with Jesus so that we will rise with Him in the glory of the Resurrection!

image: Gary Bridgman/Wikimedia Commons

Sources: http://catholicexchange.com/ten-tips-best-lent

By Fr. Ed Broom

Father Ed Broom is an Oblate of the Virgin Mary. He blogs regularly at Fr. Broom's Blog.