Trusting an Unknown Future

Anni Harry contemplates ways we can help ourselves and others on the journey to heaven.

Not too long ago, my local priest’s homily included the reminder, “Don’t be afraid to trust an unknown future to an all-knowing God.” While our human nature can have us plan, and many of us contingency plan, and still others contingency the contingency plan, we can’t ever be assured of knowing the future outcome of anything. The phrase, “Man plans, God laughs,” comes to mind.

For as far back as we can study, humans have been concerned with the afterlife. Even ancient Jewish scholars would wrestle with explaining what happens to a person’s soul when they had died, leading to St. Paul’s words of comfort found sprinkled throughout his letters in the New Testament.

While we can’t speculate on any given individual’s soul at their time of judgment, we can say for certainty, the afterlife is real. Heaven and Hell are real.

The joy of our salvation is real.

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The month of November is dedicated to the Holy Souls in Purgatory. We kick off the month with the Solemnity of All Saints—the acknowledgement that there are so many more souls united fully and intimately with God in Heaven than we can ever dare to know.

These souls trusted the future to an all-knowing God. They lived with the understanding that time here on earth is fleeting, and our afterlife is everlasting.

The day after, we celebrate the Feast of All Souls—praying in a special and intentional way for the dearly departed. These are the souls where we, as loved ones left behind, are challenged to trust an all-knowing God with the future of the ones we loved fiercely.

The Holy Souls in Purgatory are living the experience of trust in an all-knowing God, waiting for their time of full unification with our ever-loving, always-merciful Father.

Where does that leave those of us “left behind”?

We are left in the trenches, with sometimes back-breaking work to keep eternity in the forefront of our thoughts, words, and actions.

We are kept wondering about those dearly departed who might be gone but will never be forgotten.

We are kept waiting for the day in which we shall see our Savior face-to-face, allowing our soul to respond to His extended grace, mercy, and love.

What can we do today, to help us on our journey to Heaven?

First, we can pray. We can pray for not just ourselves, but also the Holy Souls, regardless of whether or not we know them by name. We can offer Masses for those Holy Souls, and even offer up our difficult days, trusting in the mercy of an all-knowing God.

Second, we can immerse ourselves in the Truth of the Gospel, found in Sacred Scripture. Understanding where we come from as fallen humanity, and where we are headed is essential in learning about trust in an all-knowing God.

Finally, we can acknowledge our challenges with trust of an unknown future, turning to the saints for inspiration and the wisdom imparted by the Holy Spirit to guide our steps forward.

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This month, will you spend time reflecting on how you trust an unknown future to an all-knowing God? #catholicmom

This month, will you spend time reflecting on how you trust an unknown future to an all-knowing God?

Will you offer our loving God your challenges with the unknown?

Will you pray for the dearly departed in an intentional manner, that they may witness the fullness of the glory of God after their own turn of trusting an unknown future to an all-knowing God?