Sunday Reflection: Let down your nets!
You are to be fishers of men. You are not to catch men by pleasure, or by power, or by purchase; instead you are to catch men through the knowledge of eternity. This world is futile and its future is short but God has called us to a new hope, an eternal life in love with Him if we but believe in His Son. We must lay down our rebellious arms and choose the sword of truth, the mighty word of God, and repent of our past deeds and rise to a new life in the Lamb of God. Death is certain but the time of our death is hidden from each of us.
Yes, it is certain and it cannot be denied that everything in this world is begotten in the heart of God and is good. It is we who taint the good with evil due to the original sin complex.
The wage of sin is death. For this reason we will all die. There is no escape only the power of the will to choose to die in and for the glory of God. This demands preparation through reparation. It calls us to die to the senses which demand so much from us. Mortify your eyes, your ears, your tongue, your touch and prepare them for death. Deny your hearts desires which may often be contrary to the will of God. Humble your intellect and subordinate yourself to the needs of the poor. Preparation for death demands that we go deeply into the meaning of eternal life.
Forever is forever and there is nothing in this world that can be so important as the soul's attachment to the Heart of God. As the stag longs for running water so our hearts long for the love of God. Imagine an eternity suffering the pain of loss. I could have won heaven by practicing the 7 corporal works of mercy or the 7 spiritual works of mercy or by the 5 first Saturdays in reparation for the sins of blasphemy concerning our Lady's privileges.
I could have prayed the rosary daily and worn the holy scapular of our Blessed Mother.
Surely these are narrow ways and simple ways but they have been given to us to prepare for heaven.
It is certain that we will die but it is uncertain when we shall be called by God. Men know not the day or the hour in which this world will end for them. Very often they are on their deathbeds and they still believe that they will recover. We just do not want to die and face the truth that we know will never end. Today we must recover the spiritual common sense that tells us that God so loved this humanity that He sent His only begotten Son to shed the
Blood that ransoms us for the Father. Jesus has paid the price and now choose to die to your selfishness and pride and accept the love that surpasses all imaginations.
Despite the fact that we do not know the day of our death there is no harm done by meditating often upon the reality of our death. From this meditation we will come to teach others that the Gospel of Eternal Life is all that makes sense out of a poisoned world. The world, the flesh and the devil are one in their desire to deceive us and carry our souls to hell. Each soul is faced with the certainty of death and the uncertainty of the time of death. Each soul knows that many have gone before us and many saints have shown us the path that leads to true life. These saints and our angels beckon us to reflect on this truth and to call other to the life that is filled with divine love.
Adriaen van de Venne's Fishers of Men. Oil on panel, 1614
My brothers and sisters let us pull back the curtain of temporal being and gaze in contemplation upon the mystery of heaven. We seek an eternal day of love with the Author of Love Itself. Remember the thought of St. John Bosco: "A little piece of heaven will cure every suffering we have had to endure in this world of ours." Keep heaven in your mind and reflect upon the meaning of our death. May you see the wisdom of preparation through reparation and win the blessings of God.
In the hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Fr. Richard Voigt