Eternal life

I recently turned 45, and very possibly, I am in the latter part of my life now.  I still, God-wiling, have lots of life to live.  However, there is a good chance that as of this point, I have less life to live than I have lived previously.

As I age, I do realize how short indeed our time is on Earth.  We are told that over and over again, but it really begins to sink in for many, including myself, at this “mid-life” point.   I would not say I am having a “mid-life crisis”, but rather, I just see things differently now than I did when I was younger.

When one realizes the deep truth to the statement that life is short, we then should ask what our short lives should be all about?   Why are we given such a short amount of time in the grand scheme of things?   Many of us, in our “younger days”, want to “change the world”, and/or “secure a legacy”, and many reading this may still feel the same way.  But the “world” has been around for a long, long time before us, and will be around a “long, long” time after us (maybe).    If our lives were truly meant to be about changing the world and/or securing a legacy, it seems it would make sense, and be necessary, for us to be given longer periods of time to do just that.

But we are not given a lot of time.  The shortness of life is referenced throughout the Scriptures.  Here are just a few examples:

Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world;  for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world.  And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever. 1 John 2:16-17

“Lord, let me know my end,
    and what is the measure of my days;
    let me know how fleeting my life is.
You have made my days a few handbreadths,
    and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight.
Surely everyone stands as a mere breath.
Surely everyone goes about like a shadow.
Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;
    they heap up, and do not know who will gather.  Psalm 39:4-6

 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.”  Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  James 4:13-14

“A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble, comes up like a flower and withers,
    flees like a shadow and does not last. Do you fix your eyes on such a one?
    Do you bring me into judgment with you? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
    No one can.  Since their days are determined,  and the number of their months is known to you,
    and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass  look away from them, and desist,
    that they may enjoy, like laborers, their days.  For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease. Though its root grows old in the earth,
    and its stump dies in the ground, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant. But mortals die, and are laid low; humans expire, and where are they?  Job 14:1-10

Remember how short my time is for what vanity you have created all mortals!  Psalm 89:47

So, we are all given really short amounts of time on this Earth.   Therefore, the purpose of our lives cannot be just to change this world and/or create a legacy here.  Our goal has to be something, or better put, somewhere else.  Our vision needs to reorient itself from this world to the next.   We need to think about eternal life.

I have already done posts on judgment, heaven, purgatory, and hell.  You can look through my blog for more information on them.

For now, let me just a pose a few honest, perhaps painful questions, which we should ask ourselves.

1)      Am I doing things that will lead me to heaven?  Am I so focused on success in this world that I have failed to think about what is considered success in heaven?

2)      Am I ready for heaven?  Do I desire heavenly things, and not the things of this world?  Do I ever think of heaven?   Or am I so absorbed in this world that I never think about life after death?

3)      Why should God let me into heaven?  Have I paid much attention to him?  Do I know him at all?  Does he know me?

4)      Do I know how to get to heaven?  Do I really know the answer to that question?

5)       Is there really a hell?   If so, might I wind up there?

6)      Have I really addressed the issue of death?   Am I ready to die right now? 

I think as we get older many of re-evaluate our life priorities.  The Bible does speak of the wisdom of old age.   Here are a few examples:

You shall rise before the aged, and defer to the old; and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.  Leviticus 19:32

Is wisdom with the aged, and understanding in length of days?  Job 12:12

Perhaps that is a grace of older age, as we realize now the limitedness to our earthly existence, and start focusing on the important things, the final things.  Eternal life is real, and yes, final.  We need to focus on getting there.   This is true no matter how old or how young we are.   If we focus on eternity, more than this world, then we can be confident that our lives will truly be a success, and we will have a true and lasting legacy that will last forever.   But we must prepare for eternal life.  We must be ready for it. 

Are we thinking about it?  Are we preparing for it?  Are we ready?

I will close with this beautiful prayer, quoted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (p.1020), that a priest says to someone who is dying, after giving him or her the Anointing of the Sick, and Viaticum (final Eucharist).  May we be blessed to hear these words as we depart this Earth:

Go forth, Christian soul, from this world
in the name of God the almighty Father,
who created you,
in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God,
who suffered for you,
in the name of the Holy Spirit,
who was poured out upon you.
Go forth, faithful Christian!

May you live in peace this day,
may your home be with God in Zion,
with Mary, the virgin Mother of God,
with Joseph, and all the angels and saints. . . .

May you return to [your Creator]
who formed you from the dust of the earth.
May holy Mary, the angels, and all the saints
come to meet you as you go forth from this life. . . .
May you see your Redeemer face to face.

Joseph, patron of the dying, pray for us.