August 22, 2010
Dear Friends in Christ,
                Have you ever wondered how many people die annually around the world?  Or, how many people are born annually around the world.  The numbers, as best I can tell, are these: 57,000,000 deaths each year and 140,000,000 births.  So the birth rate is much higher than the death rate.  These numbers are from 2009.  But the death rate worldwide is going up while the birth rate is going down which is no insignificant fact.  And the birth rate is not a constant.  It is under one percent in much of Europe and China still has its one child policy in place.
                The population of the world is just under 7,000,000,000 people.  We should hit that number some time next year.  And that will most likely continue to grow until we are between 8,000,000,000 and 10,000,000,000 people by 2040.  
                A birthrate of 140,000,000 annually means that each day the Lord sends 383,500 little ones to planet earth.  A death rate of 57,000,000 annually means that each day the Lord calls 156,100 of us home.  Each day.  Every day.  That is a lot of people to keep track of.  While doing so would tax our very best efforts, God knows what He is about and has no trouble keeping track of how many people come and go and who they are specifically.  On the day I die there will be another 156,000 people in line with me awaiting immediate judgment.  It has been happening that way for eons now but we rarely give it much thought.
                At the moment of death we stand before the God who gave us life and graced us with love.  We receive an immediate judgment of our lives, up or down.  If the judgment is hell then that is where we go—forever.  If the judgment is heaven that is where we go—forever.  At the moment of judgment we stand right on the threshold.  When we are fully prepared and accepting of God’s saving love then we enter the kingdom of heaven, saved from our sins by the blood the Lamb.  But we must also be clear.  While the judgment may well be to enter heaven we must make no mistake about it.  There is no place in the kingdom of heaven for any aspect of our life that is not fully redeemed by Christ.  In other words we will not be taking into the Kingdom of the Lovely God, any unforgiveness or lust.  We will take with us no angry heart or greedy soul.  We will not smuggle in our envies or our arrogance or our sloth.  Avarice and gluttony are unwelcome in the kingdom.  To the degree that I cling in any way to any of these attitudes then I will be delayed entering into the awaiting Kingdom of Heaven. 
                So we should be doing our best now to enter by means of the Narrow Door as Jesus says.  The narrow door is the life of virtuous living.  My friends, it truly does matter what we do in this life, whether it be alone or with others, whether anyone knows of it or no one does.  It all matters.  And there is no playing God for the fool as if we can finesse the truthful God or try to rationalize our way into his kingdom.  This is a time of great seriousness rather than frivolity.  We should seek to become brutally truthful with ourselves and humble as we stand before God in this moment.  Our eternal life depends on our faith and life here and now.
Peace,
Msgr. McHenry