"Well, done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your Master." (see Matthew 25:23) Which of us hasn't dreamed of hearing those words from the lips of our Lord at the hour of our death? We all like to imagine heaven and all the good contained therein. We imagine seeing Him face to face and entering into eternal bliss, which is the communion of Love between the Persons of the Holy Trinity. God created us for that...to share in His love. It is really overwhelming to think about being created to give and receive love. And we all know deep in our souls that love is what we want most, the love that only God can satisfy.
What is remarkable, and a great act of mercy on the part of God, is that He formed a Church so that we don't have to wait for the hour of death to begin participating in the joy of the Master; we can enter in right now! And that is, as our own Father says, "really, really, good news." The Holy Mass is the place where heaven and earth touch...where Mercy and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other (see Psalm 85). Already here on earth we can begin to "taste" the joys of heaven...to participate in the Divine life of God Himself! Double Wow! Just looking at the fact that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is happening continually all over the world, at every minute, is enough to give us a tiny glimmer of God's Eternal Nature. He is being given praise and thanksgiving always...the eternal now. Our human minds can't really grasp the mystery of God or the Church, but we can be open to receiving His light and the many gifts He wants to give us every day--the gifts of His love. We can prepare ourselves to enter in more fully to the joys of the Lord.
So how do we enter in more deeply? Our Mother, the Church, gives us direction in this regard so that we don't have to wonder or seek aimlessly trying to find a way in. We are blessed to have a very wise pastor; we need to listen to him! The Church is certainly not lacking in information or examples. There are loads of books on growing in holiness available today. There are books on every kind of subject that deal with the sanctification of the soul; I think for most of us, though, it is not our lack of knowledge that holds us back, it is our lack of effort. We must pray!...without ceasing as St. Paul tells us. We need to be always talking with Jesus and listening to Him and spending time with Him so that we can find out what He wants for us and so we can discover more about Him and love Him more every day. He is our best teacher, our best friend, our true love, our ALL. And He wants the very best for us. He has made it easy to talk to Him by becoming a man like us. Now, we can "see" and "touch" Him. He is interested in absolutely EVERYTHING in our lives. Nothing is too small for His attention. Praying with the Word is very helpful in discovering more about Him and more about ourselves. We need to be meditating every single day on the life of our Lord and whole new worlds of love and joy will begin to open up for us. He will satisfy us, and, at the same time, make us want more of Him. Much more! Short aspirations of love throughout the day help us keep in touch with Him when we are busy or in the middle of work. Pretty soon, with perseverance, those aspirations will become like your life's breath and you will realize He is ALWAYS with you. And of course, spending time with His Real Presence in the Eucharist is such a gift. He touches our very souls in His Eucharistic Presence. It is amazing to be near Him--Our God!
Another way of entering in is frequent confession, which fills us with supernatural joy and aids us in loving Him and prepares us for receiving His love in Holy Communion...receiving Him. Another way is praying with the prayers and readings of the Mass before Mass. The prayers of the liturgy are so beautiful, but how many of us ever sit down and pray with them and make them our own? They are one of the Church's treasures, full of poetry, petition, beauty and love. It is sometimes good to meditate on the Eucharistic prayers so that at Mass, we are more united as a body in our offering together, in our prayer together. Mortification is also good for preparing our hearts. Sometimes, the mortification of our imagination seems the most difficult. How the mind likes to roam about! But reigning it in before and during Mass will help us enter into our Master's joy. Maybe it is difficult to avoid glancing around to see who's at Church on a particular day--mortifying our curiosity will bring down blessings from the Lord at Mass. Coming early to Mass is another way to quiet our hearts from all the noise of the day and enter more deeply into His presence. Thanking Him after Mass for the gift of Himself and all the gifts of our lives and asking Him what He wants us to do with those gifts will draw even more graces upon our souls. God is so good; we only need to show up with the tiniest of desires for Him and He will take us in His Hand and teach us and love us and show us each our individual path to Him. He will ignite the spark within our hearts, and we will begin to be more effective instruments in His Hands for His greater glory and the good of souls. May we all make progress in entering in this week to the joy of the Lord!
Oh, my Jesus, I'm about to enter in to the church and, already, I feel your presence in the parking lot. I'm filling up with gratitude that you have called me again to come and be close to you, and I'm also wondering how I made it to church without getting in an accident because I don't remember the drive over here as I was thinking about you the whole time and singing you a song in the car. You must have guided my actions through the guardian angel you have given to me. Thank you. As I enter the church, I sign myself with the Holy water and thank you for making me part of you through the gift of my baptism. Continue to bless me, Lord. I enter the chapel and kneel down, praying, "Here I am Lord, I come to do your will." How can I ever thank you enough for giving me a home in your church, making me Catholic, giving me the gifts of faith, hope and love? Giving me your own Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Eucharist? Every time I open the church doors, I feel as if I am coming home, that I can breathe again, that I am safe and loved and that I belong here as nowhere else. You have made it this way for me to let me know that heaven is my true home--where you are is home. What a grace it is to love you because we both know I can't even think of you for a moment unless you help me, so thank you for helping me today and please never stop helping me. Oh, Lord, help others to think of you and to love you. Show them how sweet you are and how you love. If they knew how you love unconditionally, they would flock here. You only bring peace and joy and quiet to the soul...you are gentleness itself. You are my rest and my strength. How I love you, Lord! Give me the grace of recollection during this Mass and accept me, the whole of myself, as a gift to you. Never let us part. Amen.
Recommended Reading:
- How to Pray Always by Fr. Raoul Plus, S.J.
- Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis De Sales
