A Wake.

Funny how you call them "wakes" when the dead is actually sleeping.

Anyway, I just came from the wake of my friend's mom. Since I'm "educated" (due to frequent visits to them) in going to wakes, I thought I could survive the visit alone. I did survive it.

So what's to blog about?

Visiting wakes always reminds me of my own impending death. "Tricia, don't talk like that." I can hear you probably say it. Ah! But remember that we are all waiting for our own impending deaths, and are you prepared for it? I love going to wakes for this reason. It makes me talk to God about how I'm living my life, and think about where I'll go after my journey here on earth. It makes me sorry to Him for all the things that I have offended Him because I know that if I am sinful, I won't have a happy afterlife. Going to wakes makes me re-direct my life to where it's supposed to be headed. "From dust I have made you, and to dust you shall return." Yup, our bodies will disintegrate but definitely not our souls (Now don't question me about existence of souls. Poor you if you don't believe you have one. Anyway, you still have a soul whether you believe that you have one or not.). We have souls, and what happens to our souls when our bodies disintegrate? Since our souls were given to us by God, God takes hold of it and decides whether to put it in trash (hell) or to keep them in his sight (heaven).

Yes, my friends, we will all die. So how are we living our lives so that we don't suffer in hell? Are we living our lives as if there were no hell? I'm sad for you. Better consider Paschal's wager. What is it? Ask me. In this way, we can start a more interesting conversation.

We should love visiting wakes. It should help us remember about the truths that we once in a while deny. Visiting wakes, if it ever has an effect on us, should make us reflect on our lives more. It's not a joke or a game to live our lives. We might be enjoying our "short" life here on earth, but we may be suffering in hell for eternity. What's 70 or 80 years of life here on earth struggling to be a good Catholic compared to eternity in heaven? Have you ever thought about this?