Effort

“But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:21).

Rich Young Man (Icon)

I have always loved studying and learning about Ancient History.  Understanding the burial practices of ancient civilizations is just one of the interesting things that I love to understand.

The Ancient Egyptians, for example, buried their pharaohs with all the things that they might need for the next life.  They would bury them with treasure and clothes and pets and even slaves and wives.  The pharaohs were embalmed, their bodies were prepared in a way that would reduce the rate of decay so that even the flesh of their bodies could be of use to them int eh afterlife.  The pharaohs spent their lifetimes having slaves construct their tombs – building pyramids that took decades to construct, so that they would have a place to rest after their deaths – and for their use in the afterlife.

The Ancient Greeks and Romans placed coins on the eyes of the dead so that they would have something to use to pay the gods to carry them across the river into the afterlife.

These days it is a rare thing for people to literally believe that they can carry goods across time and space and use things of this world in the afterlife.  However, in a way, we still do this…  We try to keep ourselves looking young.  We inject away wrinkles and admire people who can retain their youthful figure – even into their sixties, seventies and even eighties.  We admire the accumulation of wealth.  And yet, none of us can take any of these things with us when we die.  And it does not matter how many facelifts I have done or how much colour I put into my hair, when I die, my skin and hair will turn to dust – as from dust I have come…

And this remands me of the parable…

“Jesus told them a parable, saying, ‘The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' And he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:13-21).

And it occurs to me today that there is so much left for me to do, and none of it is related to how I look or how much I earn.  It occurs to me that what I have left to do relates only to the effort I place in trying to be a Saint.  After all, that is the only thing I am going to be able to carry into the next life…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.