Funny thing happened on the way to Heaven

At the first meeting of the year the Fra Angelico Chapter of Lay Dominicans members choose the focus of our prayer for the year. We are given the name of someone in our chapter, the name of a deceased Dominican and the name of a Dominican who is a member of Church Militant and we commit to praying for them every day of the year.

I love this custom. I always get a great prayer warrior praying for me and I accept a challenge to my own spiritual development; that is, to be someone else's prayer warrior. It gives me a sense of purpose and it allows me to never forget that I matter. I am a small part of a greater whole and what I do, how I do it and what I say matters.

We were given something else at our chapter meeting on Saturday. One of our members handed us a prayer for the new year credited to St Thomas Becket. St. Thomas Becket, an English saint, had stood firm in the face of an aggressive state government. As Archbishop of Canterbury, he did not believe the secular government could push The Church around and tell it what to do in matters of Faith and Morals. 

That's wonderful - but let me share the prayer credited to this brave man:

May God make your year a happy one!
Not by shielding you from all sorrows and pain,
But by strengthening you to bear it, as it comes;
Not by making your path easy,
But by making you sturdy to travel any path;
Not by taking hardships from you,
But by taking fear from your heart;
Not by granting you unbroken sunshine;
But by keeping your face bright, even in shadows;
Not by making your life always pleasant,
But by showing you when people and their causes need
You most, and by making you anxious to be there to help.
God's love, peace, hope and joy to you for the year ahead.

See, I read this and I am struck by two things;

Being Catholic means giving your entire heart, soul, being and body to Jesus Christ.
Being Catholic does not mean your life is going to be joyful and easy according to that which is held most valuable in the world.

I am also struck by the idea that I am not a living saint.

In fact, I would pretty much bet on that; Leslie K. is not a living saint. She does not suffer well. She does not put up with a lot of discomfort. She does not bear up well under close scrutiny. She sins, she gets discouraged, she wishes people would calm down and stop being idiotic. She gets impatient waiting for God to do the deal the way she thinks it should be done and has to be constantly reminded that God's time is perfect and God's solution is perfect.

In other words, Leslie K. is very well aware that she is blessed to be a member of The Catholic Church where being a living saint is not the requirement for membership.

 I am often struck by the Faith that is required to practice Christianity the way the Apostles meant for us to practice it. I know, for instance, that I cannot earn my salvation. Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross, the Paschal Mystery, is what opened the gates of heaven to me. I also know is I can lose that gift by turning away from His Teachings, by rejecting His Church. I know that it would be perfectly possible to cry, "Lord Lord" only to have Jesus look me straight in the eye and say, "I do not know you".

It is that knowledge that keeps me close to His Church. It is that understanding that focuses me on the entire package. I never want to become the kind of person who thinks that I can do whatever I want to whomever I want and still stroll arrogantly into heaven.

Today, as I pray the prayer of St Thomas Becket, I pray also that God have mercy on this weak little Dominican.  I pray that He not give me more than I can handle and I pray that He not have too high opinion of me (as Mother Teresa would say).

I also pray that someday I will stand before Jesus and hear, "Good job, girl...welcome home".