Preparation for "Dying Well" (cont'd)

Two of the greatest disappointments in the ministry of a priest come in the later years of a parishioner’s life:  The first is when those who are confined to their homes don’t feel a need for either our Lord’s presence in the Most Holy Eucharist, nor for the refreshing cleansing of the Sacrament of Reconciliation / Confession.  There are many folks who would like a visit from the pastor, but so few whose real desire and focus is the Eucharist the pastor brings with him; The second is when a parishioner dies without the Sacraments of Viaticum or Anointing of the Sick and the Apostolic Pardon which accompanies these at the end of life.  This might seem a bit macabre to some, but if one’s goal is leading souls to eternal, intimate communion with God, the greatest tragedy is the loss of souls, or even the delay of a soul entering into that communion.

Because the Eucharist is the Body & Blood, Soul & Divinity of Christ, it is the very center of our life on earth.  It is particularly critical that our deep and passionate love for the Eucharist be cultivated early in life.  Too often we push off the cultivation of this love in favor of the joys of the created world.  When our older years come along, we spend our time reliving the past or mourning our lost youth instead of yearning for communion with God.

When this desire, this passionate love for God, present to us in His Son through the Most Holy Eucharist is left uncultivated, so is our awareness of those things which have separated us from the fulness of communion with God and then our desire to be reconciled with God.  This leaves us dead inside.  Unfortunately, in this life of constant noise and distraction we don’t notice it so much in our youth or miss it in our maturity – and yet there is a hole and yearning we can’t explain.

When we have cultivated this love for God, present to us in His Son through the Most Holy Eucharist, yearn for presence of the Eucharist – having Father visit is nice, but it’s Who he has brought with him that we really desire!  And when this desire for His presence has been well cultivated, one especially desires this presence at the end of life – not when one is already comatose, but when one can still recognize His presence and receive Him as Food for the Journey (Viaticum).

So, PLEASE, cultivate this desire in your youth, and then call Father when you are no longer able to come to church and ask for the Most Holy Eucharist; that sacrament which opens us more fully to His presence – Confession; and, finally, makes us desire the comforting reassurance of the Apostolic Pardon when death is near.

“May Christ our Lord help us all with His bountiful grace, so that we may know His holy will and perfectly fulfill it.” (St. Ignatius of Loyola)