One last requirement before we meet the Lord!

One last requirement before we meet the Lord.

Jesus told Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, even though he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”  (Jn 11: 25 - 26).  

To rise with Cjhrist , we must die with Christ: we must “be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”  In that departure which is death the soul is separated from the body.  It will be reunited with the body on the day of resurrection of the dead.  (CCC 1005

As my wife and I visited her dying sister this morning, at the hospital,along with her husband and some other family members, all we could do was pray over her and secure a blessing as she slept without saying anything.  The one grace of this visit is the words of Jesus when he heard Lazarus had died.  His response was, “Our friend Lazarus is sleeping, but I am going to awaken him.”  (Jn 11: 11).   Although my wife’s sister was really asleep,as she was waiting for the angel who was at her head waiting to guide her soul to heaven, we waited as well to say our goodbyes before she would rise from this earthly body.  

The dying should be given attention and care to help them live their last moments in dignity and peace.  They will be helped by the prayer of their relatives, who must see to it that the sick receive at the proper time the sacraments that prepare them to meet the living God.”  (CCC 2299).

We should never consider making this last visit to say goodbye as a task that might not have meaning.  Even though Lois didn’t respond to our voices, we were told that she invariably knew we were there.  Also, we must remind ourselves of the Communion of Saints.  

Communion with the dead.  In full consciousness of this communion of the whole Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, the Church in its pilgrim members, from the very earliest days of the Christian religion, has honored with great respect the memory of the dead; and because it is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead that them may be loosed from their sins she offers her suffrages for them.  Our prayers for them are capable not only of helping them, but also of making their intercession for us effective.  (CCC 958).

We are all united together through the Communion of Saints;  the Church Penitent (those in Purgatory), the Church Militant ( we who are on earth), the Church Triumphant ( those in heaven).  Prayers from all are the most proficient manner of reaching God for the expiation of sins of sinners, which we all have had a part in.  We are mandated to pray for the souls in Purgatory, all of which will include us who are still alive. 

All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven,  (CCC 1030).  They are already in the State of Grace.

Ralph B. Hathaway