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Sometimes our lives on earth can feel lonesome and isolated, especially if we are striving to be a good Christian and it seems that everyone in our local community is working against us.
It is precisely at those times that we need to remind ourselves that we are not alone.
Surrounding us at all times is the heavenly court of angels and saints, cheering us on as if they were at a football game.
Heavenly fans
St. Francis de Sales comments on this reality in his Introduction to the Devout Life, inviting his readers to picture a heavenly scene, first focusing on how Jesus and his Blessed Mother are there, inviting us to choose Heaven:
Consider that Jesus Christ, enthroned in Heaven, looks down upon you in loving invitation: “O beloved one, come unto Me, and joy for ever in the eternal blessedness of My Love!”
Behold His mother yearning over you with maternal tenderness— “Courage, my child, do not despise the Goodness of my Son, or my earnest prayers for thy salvation.”
Then he invites us to picture all the saints encouraging us:
Behold the saints, who have left you their example, the millions of holy souls who long after you, desiring earnestly that you may one day be for ever joined to them in their song of praise, urging upon you that the road to Heaven is not so hard to find as the world would have you think. “Press on boldly, dear friend,”—they cry. “Whoso will ponder well the path by which we came hither, will discover that we attained to these present delights by sweeter joys than any this world can give.”
Everyone in Heaven is urging us on, as they want us to share in their joy.
We may not be able to see them with our physical eyes, but if we are open to their spiritual presence, we can feel the peace they bring.
St. Francis de Sales ends his meditation with the following words:
Dwell lovingly upon the example set before you by the Blessed Virgin and the saints, and strive to follow where they point you. Give yourself up to your guardian Angel, that he may be your guide, and gird up your courage anew to make this choice.
We may feel alone, but we aren’t, and millions of saints await us in Heaven, hoping and praying we will make the right choices on earth.
And today we celebrate...