Last Things, Beauty and Perspective

Today we heard a bit about the end times in Mass . . . 
I  started thinking about how each of us will face our own end times, whether it is because of Jesus' second coming or our own individual death.  Death and taxes, right? We are sure of it.

So, WHY do we waste so much precious time on other superfluous things? Like . . . worry, sticking to a schedule, clothes, tv, gossip, parties, keeping up with the Joneses, being embarrassed, rushing, petty differences, "beauty," aging.

Ahhhh, two biggies -- "beauty" and aging!

Aging . . . .  as a society we are obsessed with denying it.
Anti aging cremes. hair dye, plastic surgery. We revere youth. We revere outward beauty (note: "beauty" as the culture defines it). 
I recently had an acquaintance tell me something - in all seriousness - that she believed adamantly.  I didn't know how to respond without insulting her.
OK,  this is a paraphrase, but as closely as I can remember her exact words. She said,

"You know, if you want your children to be beautiful you have to marry an attractive partner.  That is a serious consideration. You need to think about these things, I mean, if you want ugly children then it doesn't matter. But I'm just saying . . . . "

I remember staring at her in utter disbelief. Then, I think I responded with something like, didn't she think it was love that should be the determining factor. It probably sounded quite trite.


This hunger for conventional beauty ignores life's very path . . . . to death.
That all of us must die is modern society’s most inconvenient truth.  In our culture few acknowledge this truth. If we did, all of this other craziness would subsist.
Fr Corapi said, "There is no real failure in this life except eternal damnation."
Quest for beauty, popularity, greedy material success, carnal pleasure . . . . it all takes us in the wrong direction.
Every choice we make either takes us closer to God or farther away from God.

I need to remind myself (constantly) of what we say in Our Profession of Faith.
I believe in life everlasting.
All my choices should direct me -- and I should direct others -- towards choices that lead to everlasting life with God in heaven.