

The Pillars of Our Salvation
There is nothing more important in our lives than caring for the salvation of our souls. We know that everything in this life goes on and that only our soul is eternal, so taking care of where we spend eternity should be our priority. Heaven can be defined as a complete union with God, our Creator, who is Love. So that we may one day be united with Love, we need to look, even here in this life, for some of this union. To this end, the Church, our Mother, who wants all her children to be saved, offers all the necessary means to make this possible. In addition to the essential requirements (being baptized and having faith), there are three pillars upon which our salvation rests: prayer, confession, and the Eucharist. Without them, total union with Love in eternity is very difficult, or practically impossible. Prayer is personal dialogue with God. It is not possible to spend eternity with a person with whom we have never talked, or said very little, or only when we need something. To unite with God, we need to seek to know Him, to see how He works in our lives, and this is what prayer is for. There are many ways to pray, but the most conducive to this encounter with the God of my life is meditative prayer. There are various techniques for good meditation, and the life of the saints is full of them. The one I suggest here is one taught by Father Joseph Kentenich, founder of the Schoenstatt Apostolic Movement. He teaches that we should savor the events of our lives, trying to see God's hand in everything that happens to us, both good and unpleasant. For this we need to set aside some time of our day (at least 15 minutes) where we put ourselves in a quiet place, ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten us and help us meet with the Father, and choose an event from the day before to meditate. In view of this fact, we ask three questions: 1) What does God want to tell me about this? 2) What do I say to myself? 3) What do I answer to God? Answering these questions helps us see the divine providence in our lives. The main purpose of meditation is to know so we can love. If we can see God behind these events, we see how He cares for us with infinite love and so we can respond to that love as well. Only love who feels first loved. And God loved us first! Another pillar for our salvation is the sacrament of confession. Sin takes us away from God, for we choose to fulfill a desire that is bad for us, instead of remaining true to our Father's teachings. Thus, confession reconciles us with God, restoring the state of friendship that sin had broken. We should use this sacrament as often as possible, for it also helps us grow in holiness, giving us the strength to resist temptation. Finally, we have the most important, the most sublime act of love that God could have done: the Eucharist. In Holy Communion God gives Himself as food to unite with us and become one flesh with us! Our intelligence is too limited to understand the greatness of the Eucharist, and our faith is too weak. Anyone who really has a glimpse of this wonder does not let a day goes by without receiving the Eucharistic Jesus. To receive the Eucharist is already to have Heaven here on earth. It is to unite with Jesus as perfectly as possible that we can, while we are still in this world. During the fifteen minutes or so that the sacred species is in our body, even though our senses do not realize it, we are one with God, as we will be one day in eternity. “Behold, I am with you always, unto the end of the world.” (Matthew 28:20). The way in which Jesus fulfills this promise is through His Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament. Thus, in order to go to Heaven one day, we must continually seek holiness, which consists essentially of learning to love so that we can unite with Love. For this we need, little by little, to end our selfishness that imprisons us in our desires, seeking greater attachment to God, seeking to love Him more each day and proving our love by going out of ourselves to give ourselves to the service of others.Copyright 2019 Flávia Ghelardi
About the Author

Flávia Ghelardi
Flávia Ghelardi is the mom of four, a former lawyer already "promoted" to full time mom. Flávia published her first book FORTALECENDO SUA FAMÍLIA and is a member of Schoenstatt´s Apostolic Movement. Flávia loves to speak about motherhood and the important role of women, as desired by God, for our society. She blogs at www.fortalecendosuafamilia.blogspot.com.
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