The parable in today’s Gospel should remind us of our own mortality.  It should remind us that we do not know the day nor the hour in which the Lord may call upon us to give account for the life that we have lived. 

The parable of the rich man in the Gospel shows the perils of focusing one’s life on oneself, and not on God. 

Instead of preparing for a physical future here on this Earth, we should instead be focused on preparing ourselves for the eternal life which will come after our departure from this world. We must always be ready for the hour we are called, always focused on the Lord in the anticipation of eternal life with him. We should prepare for that eschatalogical quartet, for those four last things as they are commonly referred to. Every moment of our life is a moment in which we are moving towards those four last things. 

But what are they?  What are those four last things?

The four last things deal with our transition from our earthly life to our eternal life.  They are Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell.

The first thing, Death.

Unless the Lord decides to come soon, we shall all be faced with our own death. We might not die today, but then again we could.  We might well live another fifty years. We do not know so therefore we should be prepared. We should live every minute as though it were our last, live every minute obedient to the Lord. And when death rears it head to us, we accept it with a demeanor of dignity. Corporeal death does not mean the end of us.  While our bodies may die, our spirits live on for our spirits are eternal.

The second thing, Judgement.

There is no reason for us to fear death, for if we have lived a good life in accordance with the commandments of God, then when we die we will face Judgement and our judgement will be just.  In our judgement, we anxiously await for these words: “Well done, good and faithful servant,” and not the words of our Lord to the rich man, “You Fool.”

When we die, judgement immediately follows, the Particular judgement in which we will find ourselves face to face with our lord Jesus Christ.  A popular sentiment passing through mainstream Christianity is that Jesus, as our personal Lord and Savior, is our buddy, he is our friend, he is our BFF.  We justify the things we do, the way we are, by claiming that He knows how we are and understands us and is forgiving.

Christ can be our buddy, our friend, our BFF. He should be the most important person in our life.  But we have to realize that the last role He will assume in our lives before eternity will be that of our judge. Our soul will stand in the awe-inspiring Presence of the Holy Son of God, to give an account of every thought, of our every word, and of our every act.  We will even answer to Him for what we failed to do – our omissions.  And whether we have lived a good life or not, our judgement will indeed be just. He will separate us, the goats from the sheep.  We will find ourselves either inheriting the kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world -- or accursed and commanded into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  We will be rewarded with Heaven or condemned to Hell.

The third thing, Heaven.

In Heaven, we will come Face to Face with God.  We will live in communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed.  We will be perfectly incorporated into Christ, partners in his heavenly glorification and faithful to his will. In the glory of heaven the blessed continue joyfully to fulfill God's will in relation to other men and to all creation. The blessed shall reign with Christ; with him "they shall reign for ever and ever.”

To go directly to Heaven, one must die in either the state of their baptismal innocence, which means having never committed a mortal sin, or being in a state where they have fully satisfied for all their sins committed, a state in which they have made perfect contrition. This is done by acts of charity, penance, indulgenced prayers, etc. If either of these conditions are met, then one can go directly to Heaven.  This can be done. It is not impossible. We see it in the lives of the Saints.

Those who die in a state of grace, without mortal sin, but who have committed venial sin, or who have not fully atoned for the corporal punishment due to their forgiven sins, they will experience God’s purifying Love – a temporary state known as Purgatory.  The Church considers those in Purgatory to be Saints, because they are sure of going to Heaven! In Purgatory, these souls can no longer commit sin. They only desire to be in God’s loving presence.

A common expression heard by Catholics today is that “I’m shooting for purgatory!  If I make it there then I’m good to go!”

How sad that is, for if you shoot for purgatory but miss the mark, well, that is not good.  An arrow, when it misses its mark, tends to fall.

Shoot for Heaven, for that is our goal, to spend eternity with our Lord, partaking in the beatific vision. Live your life aiming straight for the prize of eternity with the Lord.  Do everything in your power to achieve this, follow the commandments, perform acts of charity and penance, seek out the graces which come from the sacraments. Living like this can make you a saint.

And should you fall short of this mark, the purifying graces of purgatory will give you that final lift unto the arms of the Lord in paradise.

The fourth thing, Hell

From the catechism of the Catholic Church. We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him. But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves: "He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." Our Lord warns us that we shall be separated from him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the poor and the little ones who are his brethren. To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called "hell."

Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, "eternal fire.” The chief punishment of hell is the eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.

If we live a life which has turned its back on God, at our death, we will be granted that separation which we pursued throughout our life.  God is seen everywhere in our life, but if we consciously decide to deny him, then why should we think our death would be different? God predestines no one to go to hell; for this, a willful turning away from God, which is a mortal sin, is necessary.  And if this persists until the end, that will assure one of condemnation.

Know all this, we can prepare ourselves for these four last things.  Paul in the second reading gives us advice on what to do in this preparation. 

Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry. Stop lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator. There are no differences among people, Paul states, Christ is all and in all.

So, my brothers and sisters in Christ, I can tell you today that, unless the Lord comes back soon, we will all die.  We will pass through those four last things, well, we pray that we stop at number three. We will die, be judged and enter into eternity. 

Let us hear now the voice of the Lord. Let not our hearts be hardened. Let us fill our days with kindness.  Let us seek to be rich, not in treasure for ourselves, but in the things that matter to God. We know what those are. And when our time comes, let us die in God's grace and friendship and let us be perfectly purified to live forever with Christ. 

Amen.