Angels guarding Graveyards

One of my favorite things to do is visit graveyards -- especially old ones. Nothing makes me sadder than to see a neglected graveyard; but it is surely a sign of our times. People are too busy to think of visiting their loved ones who have left this earth. Or, maybe they just don't like to think of death so they don't go. I don't know....but, it is a sad sad thing to see a graveyard completely abandoned. God's word tells us that we are to pray for the dead -- yes, they need our prayers and the masses said to assist them. So many people want to believe that when they die they will fly straight to heaven and be happy with God. They forget that God is holy and cannot abide anything that is not perfect. He exhorts us to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. When we take the time to visit graveyards, we need to pray for those who have died. They need our prayers so they can be on their way.

Even actual suffering brings me no joy.....

Prayer of a Chronically Ill Person

Lord, the day is drawing to a close, and like all the other days, it leaves with me the impression of utter defeat. I have done nothing for You: neither have I said conscious prayers, nor performed works of charity, nor any works at all . . . . I have not even been able to control that childish impatience and those foolish rancours which so often occupy the place that should be Your's in the "no-man's-land" of my emotions. It is in vain that I promise You to do better. I shall be no different tomorrow, nor on the day that follows.

When I retrace the course of my life, I am overwhelmed by the same impression of inadequacy. I have sought You in prayer, and in service of my neighbor,. . . . But in seeking You, do I not find myself? Do I not wish to satisfy myself? Those works that I secretly termed good and saintly, dissolve in the light of approaching eternity . . . .Even actual suffering brings me no joy because I bear them so badly.Perhaps we are all like this: incapable of discerning anything but our own wretchedness and our own despairing cowardice before the Light of the beyond that waxes on our horizon.

But, it may be O Lord, that this impression of privation is part of a divine plan. It may be that in Your eyes, self-complacency is the most obnoxious of all fripperies, and that we must come before You naked so that You, You alone, may clothe us.
The Soul Afire - Marguerite Teilhard de Chardin, foundress of Union of the sick in France, 1930.

Aging

God is preparing me for death -- my death. I had a terrible and profound dream when I was in my late 30's -- I was looking at myself in the mirror from some distance and as I drew closer to the mirror I concluded that it wasn't myself that I was looking at but a very old wrinkled woman. As I peered at this very old and wrinkled face wondering why she was appearing to me, I suddenly realized that it was me! I awoke completely with no trace of sleepiness and began to sob, mourning and grieving for my youth taken from me. What a pity that the beautiful bodies that God gives us decay and die becoming fodder for the earth, the worms, and the plants. But it must be so...otherwise, I fear, that I would be a very vain and proud creature before God's eye. In giving me this knowledge through a dream, a vision that touched the very marrow of my soul, I was profoundly changed and not a day goes by that I don't think of my death and the deaths of those around me.