"Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places." Jn 14:1
Jesus fills us with hope with every word of today’s Gospel. He knows how often our hearts are troubled; He knows our doubts and fears. The troubles of life can sometimes lead us to take the wrong way, but God’s mercy is endless.
I often pray for those who have died far from the Church, some seemingly far from the Lord. But I believe we can entrust these souls to the mercy of God, remembering Jesus’s beautiful image of His Father’s house with its many dwelling places. Even those who did not know Jesus in this life may, in their last moments, come face to face with our merciful Lord, who will lead them home.
There is a beautiful scene near the end of C.S. Lewis’s “Chronicles of Narnia.” As the world ends, a soldier, a loyal servant of the evil “god” Tash, meets Aslan, the glorious lion who symbolizes Jesus. Realizing he has always served a false master, the young man says sadly, “Alas, Lord, I am no son of Thine but the servant of Tash.”
But Aslan answers, “Child, all the service thou has done to Tash I account as service done to me… For… no service which is vile can be done to me, and none that is not vile can be done to him…”
Does this mean it doesn’t matter which “god” we follow? No, says Aslan, it matters very much. But as our Church teaches, “Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try… to do His will… through the dictates of their conscience – those too may achieve eternal salvation” (Catechism §847).
Aslan reassures the young soldier with similar words, saying, “Unless thy desire had been for me, thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek.”
Trust in God to lead all who sincerely seek the way, the truth, and eternal life, to Jesus. Pray, hope, and believe that even those who seemed lost may be saved.
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