“And since I’m going away to prepare a place for you, I’ll come back again and welcome you into my presence, so that you may be where I am.” John 14:3

How beautiful this place is, that our Lord is ever present, ever seen. Only now in exile, can He been seen in small portions, slightly revealed behind the veil that separates us here in exile from Him in completeness. When I can see Him today, and the way He makes my soul dance, I can’t even comprehend what ecstasy the soul shall be pulled into with Him in completeness.

I attended All Souls Day Holy Mass at Holy Cross Cemetery this morning and prayed for all the souls of my readers lost loved ones, all on social media and within my own family. I was blessed with the opportunity to find the grave of my old friends from the Legion of Mary and thought of how wonderful it was to be a part of our Lord’s life together with them. How much pain we have felt at the missing of them in our presence and all the souls who have touched our lives in so many special ways.

I have often pondered the fact that when I say so and so is a blessing to have in my life, its not actually MY life they are in, but rather, we are all together in our Lords Life, as He gathers us into One in Him.

The pain of losing a loved one, no matter the age, is devastating.I will not soon forget the loss of my own mom and dad and the realization that everything had changed completely and would never be the same. Grief is hard after the loss and nothing we can do can heal that pain of “someone missing”. We can, however, look at it in a much clear way, and understand that when we lose a loved one, its not truly losing, but gaining. We gain a soul closer to our Lord. We know we can never get that soul we loved back into our presence, BUT what we can do, is live in such a way, to ensure one day, we can be where they are in the presence of our Lord. Knowing we all will as this life is only temporary. We should rejoice for their pain in exile is over. There suffering is no more and the Holy Souls in Purgatory suffer in a way now, in which a recent quote I heard of St. Thomas Aquinas has said as: “The worst day in purgatory is better than the best day on earth” (pointed out by a dear friend: Aquinas wrote in the Summa that the pains of purgatory surpass all of the temporal pains of this life. That doesn’t mean that the quote above is false! This is also greater hope there than any other place.) We should be more aware of the pain souls are in, in exile here, struggling with the worldly and the lack of compassion for others. Therefore we are called to be One in Christ, to bring peace, hope and love to those in pain and suffering

Today, as I attended this beautiful Requiem Mass for the Holy Souls, it was the first time I was able to look more deeply into my own mortality. We all know one day we will no longer be “here”. I had arrived a half hour early and walked up to a man holding the handouts for the readings and songs. I took one from him and my eyes instantly captured the word on the cover, reading: “And since I’m going away to prepare a place for you, I’ll come back again and welcome you into my presence, so that you may be where I am.” John 14:3 I was filled with joy and began to happy cry. I truly look forward to that day He knows of.

In all the suffering we face, no matter how harsh we may believe it to be, we know this life in exile is not forever. We understand that place He has prepared for us, is under construction, until the hour He calls for us to come be with Him. Death no longer is to be feared, but embraced as it is only a moment in time, leading to eternal Life. Death to us, should be the “nativity” of the Soul in eternal life with our Lord. When we ponder the Nativity of our Lord, the moment He entered into this world for us, I can’t help but ponder as a repenting sinner, our leaving exile much in the same way, as the arrival into eternal life with Him.

Peace.

Graves of my mom and dad:

Prayer for the Poor Souls in Purgatory

English

V. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.
R. And let the perpetual light shine upon them.

And may the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Latine

V. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine.
R. Et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Fidelium animae, per misericordiam Dei, requiescant in pace. Amen.