I like to have everything planned out and don’t like the feeling of being caught unprepared. Before my wife and I went on our recent two day trip to Natchez, MS., I had our whole itinerary printed up with a general plan of what we were going to do and when we would do each thing. As soon as we got there, a wrench was thrown in our well thought-out plan and we had to adjust our itinerary. We adjusted and I think it turned out even better than the original plan.
I think we all have things that we want to accomplish in this life and how we want to accomplish them. One thing for certain is that no matter how much we plan, things will never go according to our plan. We will either be lucky and have things go better than our plan or unlucky and have things go worse. We also know that we are all on a journey and our destination will depend on the decisions we make during life and how we adjust to the problems that come our way.
Some people are shocked when they fail a test, but when questioned about how much preparation they did, the truth comes out that it was lacking. Not many people start their itinerary of life with the goal of getting to Hell. Some people start off on the right track with a good itinerary, but when life happens, they get knocked off track. Many people have fallen away from the Catholic Church or from any Church at all. The big lie that the Devil and the world want us to believe is that as long as we are a “good person”, we will be fine. I guarantee that “good people” are falling into Hell everyday and not in small numbers. Many people are wonderful at loving their neighbor, but completely drop the ball on loving God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength. We don’t want Jesus to be a stranger when we one day stand before Him.
The best way to get to Heaven is to prepare and orient our hearts, minds, and souls to the ways of God. We also need to be able to make adjustments in the right direction when things get off track. Going to Mass at least once a week will not only help us orient ourselves and stay on track, but also strengthen our relationship with God. If we truly love God the way we say we do, we should want to go to His house as often as possible and learn about Him. The Mass is the only way we can be physical with Jesus through the reception of the Eucharist. When we do online church or our own family church at home, we miss out on receiving the body and blood of Jesus.
There are many distractions and twists and turns on our journey. Don’t let the allure of the world keep us from attaining our goal of Heaven. We never know when our trip will be cut short, so we need to constantly be prepared. When we slip and fall, don’t delay in getting up and reconciling with God. He will always be there to welcome us with open arms. May we all make it to His arms and hear Him say, “Well done!”
