“The Cross is the way to Paradise, but only when it is borne willingly.” (Saint Paul of the Cross).
I would like to go to Heaven when I die.
It is not that I expect to go to Heaven. After all, I am miserably riddled with sin and do very little to prepare myself for eternal salvation. But this does not change the fact that I would desperately love to go to Heaven after I die.
I suppose I am not the only one.
It makes sense to want to achieve salvation after death – especially when the alternative is to be cast into a burning pit for all eternity and to die forever. Throughout Sacred Scripture Christ repeatedly said that we should NOT be afraid. And there was only one time when Christ said the opposite, when He warned us to be afraid. And that was when He spoke about eternal damnation…
“Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:26).
And I have been thinking about that today – that fear, because such a fear as that, while natural when we rely on our own ability to save ourselves (which is non-existent), when we acknowledge the power of God should disappear.
You see, Saint Paul of the Cross explained, “The Cross is the way to Paradise, but only when it is borne willingly.”
And it is that willingness to follow Christ and do as He bid, that is the clincher here.
And when I try to focus my attentions on following my Beloved, carrying that Cross, I find that my efforts are in vain unless I petition my Blessed Mother to help me…
“In Imitation of Mary”, Alexander De Rouville wrote at pages 139-140, “What sorrow Mary especially must have felt at losing Jesus (in the Temple)! But, my Savior, Mary had not lost You through her fault. You had left her in order to devote Yourself to Your Father's business. I, on the contrary, have often lost You through my own fault because of my sins. I often forced You to abandon me, and I should have felt great sorrow at this loss and abandonment... Mary had lost only the bodily presence of Jesus; His friendship for her was untouched. But I lost the dearest thing in all the world; the grace and friendship of Jesus.”
And when I stop and think about the suffering of the Virgin and compare her devotion to my own, I am completely overcome. For it seems to me that I have all of the ingredients available to me for my salvation, and instead of applying those Graces to my life, I hold my willingness back. And I realise today that unless I am willing, I shall lose God Body and Soul and through that loss I shall lose my very soul.
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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