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A Chicago area girl born and bred, I've lived in Mississippi, Montana, Michigan, and...ten years in the wilds of northeastern Indiana, where I fought the noble fight as a book editor. Now, I'm back in Illinois once more...for good. (At least I intend to make it that way!)

Saturday, February 27, 2010

A moment's comfort on a snowy morning

Just listening to various tunes on the iPod this morning and thinking about the fact that at least one of these artists I listen to, Isaac Guillory, is no longer with us. On this, his birthday, I said a prayer for the repose of his soul...and hoped that, as he made his musical way through life, he found peace with God as well.

(Ditto for Dan Fogelberg, whose birthday it is not...but whom I'm thinking about in the same vein.)

Many of us who trust Christ as our salvation live, to one degree or another, in a shadow of sadness for loved ones--and let's face it, these guys are "loved ones" to fans, even if we never met--whose salvation we're not sure of. Especially in the case of famous people, if we're not in their inner circle, we really have no way of knowing what the states of their souls are. And for those of us who want every decent musician in heaven that we can get :-), this can cause us a small pang of wishing, hoping...yet fearing the worst.

But if it's any comfort, maybe we don't have to fear that worst quite as much as we think. Because one of the things that Our Lord said to St. Faustina during His many talks with her was that, at the moment of each of our deaths, He reaches out His mercy to us. Not once. Not twice. But three separate times. He gives souls three separate appeals, three offerings, three chances, to take His mercy onto themselves and be covered in His glorious grace.

So if that is, in fact, true...and some of these souls desired that approach...we can rest assured, Jesus made it. He said so, and He cannot lie.

If this isn't reason for hope and rejoicing, maybe nothing else will ever be. But it's a heck of a good thing to think about, whenever we're saying prayers for those loved ones about whom we won't be sure until eternity.

We have every reason to hope that these beloved musicians--and many more of our loved ones with them--recognized that wonderful face of Jesus, that smiling mercy, and appropriated it all the way to glory. And that He welcomed them with open arms.

How merciful is our God!

Hope always,
Janny

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

If Dan Fogelberg is not in heaven, then I am not going.

Janny said...

I understand the sentiment, even if the conclusion is a bit extreme. :-) Rest assured, if any of these people is NOT in heaven...we will know why. It will make perfect sense to us, and as sad as it may make us, we will also see the reasons why it can't be any other way.

That being said, however, I believe strongly in hope. God truly doesn't desire that any of us spend eternity away from Him. So there you go...

Janny

Unknown said...

I always did like Dan Fogelberg too - who can forget the beauty of "Longer?" And while I pray for the repose of his soul and hope he's in heaven, his not being there wouldn't be a reason for me to miss out!

Really needed this post today as I lost a friend last week. Not sure if she was even a Christian although I think she was. I try to trust in the mercy of God. He knows best and as you say - we will know why someone isn't in heaven.

I've been thanking God that my dad made it into the church just two weeks before he died in December. He's buried in sacred ground! No words can describe the joy of knowing he made it.

Catholic Bibliophagist said...

I always pray for my favorite (deceased) authors on All Souls Day.