Dear Friends in Christ

During this forty day period between Easter and the Ascension of Our Lord (next weekend) the Church asks us essentially to keep our eyes on Heaven. This is our final dwelling place to which God is calling us. This invitation becomes ever more pressing as we approach the Day on which Jesus went up to the right hand of God. Words are altogether inadequate for describing our life with God in Heaven. The Church reminds us that we will be with Christ and we shall see God. Apart from this immense joy - enough alone - there is also the additional joy of happiness in the company of those we loved on earth: family and friends. Also, the joy of our risen glorified bodies which will be without any of the imperfections we have had on earth. St Augustine teaches this when he says: This flesh will rise the same which was buried…The flesh which now falls ill and suffers, this same flesh will rise again. Our personality will continue to be the same(!) and we will have our own body, but vested with glory and splendour, if we have been faithful. All this we profess when we pray in the Creed: I believe in the resurrection of the body…This thought of eternity should give us serenity in life. Nothing on earth is irreparable, nothing here is definitive, all wrongs can be righted. The only definite defeat would be to miss the door which leads to life. St Teresa of Avila expresses this beautifully in her famous little prayer:
Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.

Msgr Kevin Hale

Priest@LourdesLeigh.org ✚ 01702 478078
Homily available at LourdesLeigh.org