I am amazed that this site is still drawing visitors. I pray it's doing a lot of good. I am no longer working as a Pro-Life Director, and I have not been since the end of 2009. Nevertheless, my sentiments and beliefs are the same. And now--well, it seems that the battle between good and evil has risen to new levels. What do we do now that our government--rather, the Obama group--is actively, directly, and openly attacking the Catholic Church? For one, we should surely pray for the President. I pray that he, and all of us, will one day be merry together in Heaven. Second, we should all read, re-read, and re-re-read a few things (these are just some ideas): Good books on the life of St. Thomas More, Veritatis Splendor by Blessed JP II (wherein he also talks at length about being martyrs in the world today). Books on St. Gemma are never amiss, and she is a friend who will bring you willy-nilly to new heights. Ah, St. Gemma! Cultivate that friendship! Don't forget St. Therese and St. Padre Pio, and your Guardian Angel. And St. Michael and St. Joseph.
I know--these are obvious things. But perhaps most don't know that we can really cultivate a true friendship with the Saints and the Holy Angels.
And--I think most people have forgotten something that is best remembered, and recalled frequently and with vigor: that we are all on death row, all of us awaiting the hour of our execution, in a sense. I don't mean this in any morbid way! The fact is, we are not meant to be here forever, but for a very short time. Even living to 100 is a really small amount of time. It's like being in the parking lot outside the restaurant--one doesn't set up shop there, taking the cold pavement for the warm, cozy restaurant full of good food and drink. But that is exactly what most of us are doing. What's more, suppose the owner of the restaurant comes out and mingles with the people in the parking lot, the people waiting their turn to get in. He is a good man, let us suppose, this owner. Now, what will he think of the patrons in his lot, waiting to enter his restaurant, built with his hard work, and sweat, and pain, and tears, when he hears them swearing, sees them behaving horribly, destroying things in the parking lot, hurting other patrons. When it comes time for those people to enter the restaurant, do they really think the good owner will let them in? And again, this is what most of us think--that we can behave how we would, and still enter Heaven upon death. We should think again.
What am I saying? I think that we should all start living lives such that we could be canonized. We may never be canonized! But we should live as though we could be. We should look to our end, remembering that life on this earth is short, and this life is meant, in the end, to be one thing--a test. Here, we will decide to love God, or to love ourselves as gods. We are preparing for our death every moment of our lives. The more we live this way, think this way, pray this way, the more will we be ready for tough times, and for martyrdom if need be... and surely we all will be, either in the daily trials of life, or perhaps by the surrendering of our earthly lives in exchange for--Jesus, Life, eternal life, Heaven! That is a good trade. The daily martyrdom leads to the same end--or rather, beginning.
One more thing to do: trust. As in "Jesus I trust in You." As in, the trust of a child. What do little kids do in their parent's arms? Do they look at their Mom or Dad and say, or look as if to say, " I don't trust that you'll take care of me, feed me, keep me safe and warm"? No--there could be a storm raging all about, and a baby will sleep peacefully in his parent's arms. No worry. No fear. This is the trust we should have. And yet too often--me included--we treat God as if He is out to get us. But God is the best of Fathers! Fear not. Trust, yes. St. Therese says that if we trust Him with this kind of trust, and we do our best on earth to become holy, that upon death we ought to trust that Jesus will lift us straight into Heaven, no time in Purgatory at all. It is like a little child who tried his best to climb the stairs, but can't, and the good Father sees this, and picks the child up to himself.
And the Rosary...the weapon, as St. Padre Pio calls it! Not to mention Adoration.
So, all things we know, but should, in these times, practice better, and heroically. To paraphrase St. Thomas More, no matter how bad things look, since the good God allows it, it shall be the best.
