‘Tumble into our Graves’

‘Many are the rainbows, the sunbursts, the gentle breezes—and the hailstorms—we are liable to meet before, by the grace of God, we shall be able to tumble into our graves with the confidence of tired children into their places of peaceful slumber.’ Blessed Solanus Casey

I was in the cemetery the other day. It was my mother-in-law’s birthday, she would have been 101 and all her children gathered to pray the Rosary for her on her birthday.

As the car pulled up the GPS said “you have arrived at your destination”. A chilling reminder, but it had a point.  After the prayers I had a wander and noticed how many of the graves contained occupants younger than me; some teenagers, others in their prime. What a blessing it is to have a good innings, a length of years.

There is really only one thing we can offer to God as we go along; and we certainly owe it to Him. And that is gratitude. To thank Him for all He has and continues to give us. Life is a gift, each moment, each breath of air, every drop of water, every meal, gifts of faith, mercy and forgiveness, every person we know, all the joys of life. We miss a lot of it by occupying our minds with what we don’t have, have lost or what is not quite as we would like it to be and in doing so, rob Him of the full measure of the gratitude we owe and rob ourselves of much of the joy of life. A grateful heart is a free heart.

I love the quote above; imagine at the end of days, to “tumble into our graves with the confidence of tired children into their places of peaceful slumber” If we live in gratitude I think we will be able to live and die like that.