The closer we get to God the more we understand Paul's remarks "For to me life is Christ"

The closer we get to God the more we understand Paul’s remarks “For to me life is Christ”

Paul’s words “death is gain. If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.”  (Phil 1: 21b - 22).  When one ponders the reality of what death entails it should be one of joyful exuberance.  Not that death is something we blow a horn about but the opening of our spiritual eyes and viewing a world we never knew about, only heard that it would surpass the former existence every human lives through.  

God created a world filled with men and women who because of sin did not deserve the grace we have, but because of his generous love for his creatures hands to each one a grace that gives us freedom to accept his generosity.  When Paul speaks of fruitful labor he does mean we do good deeds in order to enter heaven.  Nothing could be further from the truth if all we need to do is perform notches in our spiritual belt to ensure we have done enough for salvation.  It is through grace alone that will bring us face to face with Almighty God.  Good works are expected not as a reward but as a respect for the generosity God, through his Son’s passion, freely gives to us just because he is total love and shares that with each of us.

When we close our eyes for the last time we are accepted by Christ even if we did nothing to gain salvation.  We must continue to believe and teach that God's desire is to welcome every soul into his kingdom and like a human father that wants what is good for his children does whatever is necessary to achieve this. 

If any of us reflects on the sanctification of all the saints we must not look at their achievements as the blueprint for canonization,  We must always look beyond the answer to God’s call that they willingly picked up and carried them through suffering and death bringing them their ultimate glory.  This is what Paul alluded to when he said “My eager expectation and hope is that I shall not be put to shame in any way, but that with all boldness, now as always, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.”  (Phil 1: 20).

Sit and reflect upon the challenge God has placed before your eyes and the call he gives you exactly as he did to all the saints he called in a similar manner.  Not everyone is given the same directive to accomplish but the expectation He waits for not with acclimations but with a willing heart and the tenacity to put forth an effort to take the bull by the horns and step forth filling a goal he has handed you.

Sanctity comes not by having the greatest ability to fulfill his call, but through childlike obedience that pleases your Father, human and spiritual.  Francis of Assisi answered the call to rebuild God’s Church.   Mother Theresa returned to Calcutta as she passed by on a train and heard God’s call.  Augustine succumbed to his mother’s life-long prayers to turn to Catholicism and became one of the Church’s most outstanding writers and doctors.  I am certain there are countless saints, many of them your mothers and fathers, who also received the challenge of life’s needs and went into glory because they didn’t count the effort as something too laborious but answered the call God placed before them.  Look and answer his call to you.  

Ralph B. Hathaway