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“These are the good old days” — William Powell as “Nick Charles” in The Thin Man (1934).
Someday, Lent will pass and spring will have arrived. Someday, winter will be back. Someday, I’ll hit age 40. Someday, I will no longer be the editor of the Catholic Herald. Someday, I will die. (Well, that escalated quickly.)
Everything we know, love, and treasure on this Earth will be lost to us or will pass away.
Despite the initial emotional reactions to those statements, they are facts.
All of our “stuff” will either leave us or we will leave it. The same goes for our friends and loved ones. For life to go on, ob-la-di, ob-la-da, someone has to depart from someone.
That’s not a bad thing
Because it is Lent, you get to read the obligatory “but that’s not a bad thing . . . because Heaven” spiel.As we fast and make sacrifices during this liturgical season, we began to learn, and even embrace, what we can survive without.
I don’t need that soda. I don’t need that donut. (Note to self: Donuts and soda on Easter Sunday morning. Yum!).
As the pandemic has come into our lives for the past year, we’ve learned other things we can do without.
We’ve also learned we can’t live without the Mass.
Outside of Lent and the pandemic, the natural course of life shows us what and who we can live without. That’s just how life goes.
All that remains and sticks with us is God and love. That is what awaits us in Heaven.
Despite our material goods being left behind on this Earth, we hope and pray that we will be in Heaven with our loved ones, along with God and all the love.
Once “up” there, we’d truly have everything we need.
Isn’t it worth it to do all we can to make sure we, and all of our loved ones, get there too?
Embrace what we have, when we have it
Of course, not all loved ones and things we lose are bad, as if we never needed them.
Some of them, especially in the friends and loved ones category, play a vital role in us getting ourselves ready to face the Almighty One in Heaven.
Due to “life” or death, we lose these important people sometimes.
That’s just part of the journey, and it does teach us to embrace, either physically or emotionally (depending upon if they like hugs or not), these people when they are in our lives.
It can also be easy to just tell ourselves nothing on Earth, since it all passes away, is all that value or important, and all that matters is struggling through life and getting to Heaven.
Obviously, Heaven is the gold, but, by golly, you’d sure miss out on a lot that life has to offer.
I don’t know either way if Heaven still contains some of the good things of the Earth, or better “heavenly” versions of them, but there are a lot of things to make the most of while we’re down here.
Things like already starting the day stressed out but seeing a sunrise on your way to work and in awe over its appearance.
Or, hearing an amazing piece of music for the first time and being blown away or moved by it.
Or, seeing your favorite sports team win a championship after a multi-decade drought of falling very short.
Or, being with friends and family and belly-laughing over the most ridiculous thing that only the people in on the joke could fully embrace and understand.
Or, drinking that first post-Lent soda on Easter morning, and, through its sugary goodness, telling yourself it’s a reminder of Christ’s Resurrection.
One way or another, we may lose things in life like all of those that I mentioned. And, that’s ok. That’s all part of the adventure of getting to Heaven and being fully face-to-face with God.
That doesn’t mean we can’t embrace what’s unique and special about being down here for as long as we are and as long as we can make the most of the gifts we’ve given while we have them.