Paraphrasing Rev. Fr. Michael DePalma:
In life, it’s not how you begin. It’s how you end.
How will you be remembered? More importantly, how will The Father remember you?
Begin today to become a beautiful remembrance in the mind of God.
Our Day of Judgment should be our Day of Glory!
Everyday begins with God’s mercy. Everyday is a new beginning. As we open our eyes on this day, we begin again. As long as we are living and breathing this side of the Judgment, the sun comes up on our second chance.
Lent is the trumpeter sounding before the Final Trumpet of our lives. The noise of cacophony is interrupted with a clarion call “Repent.”
“For He says: ‘In an acceptable time. I heard you, and on the Day of Salvation I helped you.’ Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the Day of Salvation.”2 Cor 6:2
The death penalty is being debated in New Mexico. “It’s quite a debate” according to my pastor who finds irony in the fact that this debate rages while the death penalty is in fact “the most common penalty” known to man. “Every single one of us is under a sentence. We are born, so to speak, with a noose around our necks.”
“Our death is an absolute certainty..no second chances, no reincarnation!… ‘Human beings die once, and then the Judgment.’ Hebrews 9:27 ” What our pastor finds absolute madness, “insanity to the highest degree,” is that most people on this “Death March” to the grave, never ever stop to consider their end. “If we die in a state of grace, we shall live for all eternity. If we die in mortal sin, we shall be damned for all eternity.” No do-overs!
“The only guarantee of dying a holy death is living a holy life,” Monsignor Raun concluded.
Be Holy! 