There was no blood
As a missionary
I am fighting for souls. I'm in a part of the battle that some days looks
pretty ordinary. But today it became real. Last night I was inspired by
evangelist Francis Chan and his wife from a YouTube video. They live their
marriage on mission together. Their mission: to make disciples, because a war
is waging between eternal life and eternal death and we only have this life to
choose it.
The whole town was gathered inside and outside the small funeral chapel. A woman sang songs of consolation, an older man played the guitar and everybody cried. The mom’s cries were the loudest: mi hijo, mi hijo she sobbed and screamed.
I paid my respects to the father, getting choked up as I told him this was a tragedy. I didn't even know the guy and yet the death of someone so young still pains us. The sobbing of our 15-year-old friend Mimi came in waves as the reality of her good friend’s death hit her a new. And when I saw the young man, lifeless in his coffin I could hardly see the resemblance between this face and the photo right above him. His face was swollen and his skin shredded, torn apart by whatever he skidded across as he died. But there was no blood.
In the Old Testament the Israelites people were instructed to offer sacrifice, but were never to drink the blood of the animals killed because blood was a symbol of life. This young boy had no blood, he had no life.
The only consolation I could find is that we're only meant to live this life for a short time. It's not the fun and excitement of this life, or what we can accomplish or acquire that will prevent death or dull its pain, but for whom did we live this life for and in which way did we live.
The death of this young man awoke in me a greater desire for heaven, for eternity. Our Lady of Fatima said, “If men only knew what eternity is, they would do everything in their power to change their lives.” As baptized, confirmed Catholics we are prophetic witnesses to the reality of the life after this one...a life with no pain, no suffering or no anxiety, no sadness, but pure joy.
How we live our life, the sacrifices we make, the refusal to give into the glitz and glam of this life with its many toys, cars, experiences and big money can be a testimony of how much we desire eternity with our Lord. We will all one day die. How am I living to prepare for my death now?
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| The car after the accident Read more here |
About
an hour after we went to bed last night a car of three young guys went to leave
the entrance to General Cepeda. Not all of them made it out alive. One teen boy
is in a coma, another in critical condition and one 17-year-old, the passenger,
died. At 8pm tonight as our family was wrapping up dinner and starting bed time
one of our Mexican missionaries came by the house to get us.
The whole town was gathered inside and outside the small funeral chapel. A woman sang songs of consolation, an older man played the guitar and everybody cried. The mom’s cries were the loudest: mi hijo, mi hijo she sobbed and screamed.
I paid my respects to the father, getting choked up as I told him this was a tragedy. I didn't even know the guy and yet the death of someone so young still pains us. The sobbing of our 15-year-old friend Mimi came in waves as the reality of her good friend’s death hit her a new. And when I saw the young man, lifeless in his coffin I could hardly see the resemblance between this face and the photo right above him. His face was swollen and his skin shredded, torn apart by whatever he skidded across as he died. But there was no blood.
In the Old Testament the Israelites people were instructed to offer sacrifice, but were never to drink the blood of the animals killed because blood was a symbol of life. This young boy had no blood, he had no life.
The only consolation I could find is that we're only meant to live this life for a short time. It's not the fun and excitement of this life, or what we can accomplish or acquire that will prevent death or dull its pain, but for whom did we live this life for and in which way did we live.
The death of this young man awoke in me a greater desire for heaven, for eternity. Our Lady of Fatima said, “If men only knew what eternity is, they would do everything in their power to change their lives.” As baptized, confirmed Catholics we are prophetic witnesses to the reality of the life after this one...a life with no pain, no suffering or no anxiety, no sadness, but pure joy.
How we live our life, the sacrifices we make, the refusal to give into the glitz and glam of this life with its many toys, cars, experiences and big money can be a testimony of how much we desire eternity with our Lord. We will all one day die. How am I living to prepare for my death now?
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