Union With God

Nov 5

Young Fr. Paul Colloton, OSFS, with his mother.

This reflection will be read after the feasts of All Saints and All Souls, and before November 9, which is the 58th anniversary of my mother’s death. The leaves are falling off the trees in our hemisphere, and there is a chill in the air. During this season, we often think of death. On the occasion of his sister’s death, St. Francis de Sales wrote:

“…I am as human as I can be; my heart was grieved more than I should ever have thought…But as for the rest, vive Jesus…Let God gather what He has planted in His garden: He takes everything in its season.” (Francis de Sales in Thy will be Done)

“Let God gather what He has planted in His garden: He takes everything in its season.” I find this to be a beautiful way to think of death.

We hear in the Book of Ecclesiastes that there is a time to be born and a time to die. An instructor with whom I studied once said: “We do not get out of here alive. All of us will die.” That can be a morbid thought. It can also be a helpful thought. Our time of dying will come as surely as leaves falling from trees and the land becoming barren. How do we approach death?

I mentioned my mother’s anniversary of death. She was 40 and I was 13. She suffered from a rapidly-spreading cancer that took her quickly, and yet, we had time to prepare for her dying, to cry, to tell stories, and to say our “Goodbyes.” I am convinced that my mother did more for me as a heavenly intercessor than she would have done had she continued to live on Earth. She was gathered by God earlier than I would have liked, and yet I often feel her presence with me and have experienced that many times over these 58 years.

People do not always have that kind of time to prepare. Life can be taken unexpectedly. But even when death comes unexpectedly, the fact is that each day is a preparation for death.

How?

First, we can be people of prayer whose relationship with God is nurtured by taking time to listen for God’s voice and to be honest about what is in our minds and on our hearts. St. Francis de Sales says that in prayer, we aspire to God, and God inspires us. Both words contain “spire” which comes from the Latin “spiro,” to breathe. We seek to breathe as one with God, and God seeks to fill us with the Divine Breath. Well, isn’t that our ultimate goal, to be one with God? Our simple act of breathing is a preparation for our union with God, taking in life and letting it go.

God continues to plant life within us, here on Earth, and when we are plucked to be one with God in heaven. Our prayer can help us name what we are looking for in heaven and what we will grieve letting go when it is our time. Make a list of those things that you look forward to in Heaven and what you will grieve by dying. Then give them to God to free us for the life to come.

Only Jesus has come back from the dead in the Resurrection. Take time with the Scripture passages about the days after his Resurrection. What does Jesus show us about preparation for our life with Him? As St. Francis de Sales said, “Vive+Jesu,” “Live+Jesus.” Living His ways every day is our best preparation for dying, whenever that time comes.

None of us gets out of here alive, but all of us can get out of the earthly garden and rejoice in the heavenly garden, where we will be with God for all eternity. As we continue our journey into November, pray with gratitude for the life we have and for a God who plants us on earth and then replants us, please God, in that Heavenly Garden.

And for those already there, we pray: “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace.” May they, and all the faithful departed, grow in the garden to come. Amen.