Below is a quote from my favorite book "He and i" by Gabrielle Bossis (1874-1950). This entry is from her journal of conversations with "the Voice", dated January 5, 1940.

"The days that lie ahead of you are fewer than those behind you. Then you and I should spend this last period of your life like two beings in perfect accord, heart calling to heart before they come face to face".

Turning 60 this year has made me realize that I am well beyond the mid-point of my life. Seeing my 80-year-old mother is a graphic reminder of what I may be going through in a short 20 years. She is frail, saddled with many health issues, and in a rapid decline.

How do I write the last chapter of my life?

I want to "finish the race well", as St Paul puts it. I've been a Catholic Christian my whole life, but did not embrace my faith with an adult understanding until I was 20 years old. (I had many experiences in childhood that I can only see as The Hound of Heaven pursuing me, even as a child. I felt close to God as an altar boy. But I was still too young to grasp the whole meaning and the cost. Not to mention my own mistakes as a boy).

I want to be a saint. Why settle for anything less? It may seem a little presumptuous to have such an aspiration, but is this not what the gospels call us to do? Jesus makes it clear that this is what He wants for us - to be "like Him" in all things. He just does not force us to do anything. Our free will really makes us free. He is just waiting for us to ask Him to make us saints; He already knows we are incapable of that on our own. If you think you are too sinful or stupid to be a saint, get a copy of the book "Saints Behaving Badly", a true history of many saints in the "early days" of their efforts to follow Christ. It is hilarious. And encouraging too.

Some of you have told me that I am preoccupied with death and morbid things. Does the Bible not exhort us to "consider your own end" as the beginning of wisdom? If we have no sense about the limitations of this life (like death!), how will we begin to look for the life beyond? How do we prepare ourselves for the next life? Where is our hope? If there is no "pie-in-the-sky when you die" (as C. S. Lewis puts it), why would we follow Jesus? St Paul tells us in his First Letter to the Corinthians that if there is no resurrection to eternal life, we Christians are the dumbest people on the planet and our lives are a waste. (See Chapter 15). We Christians look forward to the coming Day when Christ will raise our mortal bodies and usher us into His Kingdom forever. It is an exciting, thrilling, and glorious end to contemplate - the only goal worth our efforts. Ask God to make you a saint. Then get out of His way!

The End of the Race does come. I cannot slow down or slack off now. He wants me to do well. He is waiting at the finish line - for me.

Gary