Where Heaven Meets Earth (Part 1)
No matter what you have going on today, you owe it to yourself to spend a few minutes watching the attached video, “The Veil Removed”. It’s a stunning and sometimes shocking glimpse of how heaven meets earth at every mass. I guarantee it will change the way you view mass forever.
The video reminded me of something that happened after the funeral of one of my favorite high school teachers, Joe Choquette.
During his youth, Joe was a great baseball player, so much so that the Cincinnati Reds offered him a tryout. He turned them down because he felt God’s call to be a Catholic brother. (A Catholic brother is someone who takes vows of poverty, celibacy, and obedience. They are not the same as priests though. Priests can administer the sacraments while brothers consecrate their lives to service in other ways.).
By the time I met him at Moeller High School, Brother Joe was in his 70’s. He was the leader of the pro-life club and had an unwavering commitment to preborn babies and their mothers. When I joined the club, I got to know him well. Despite our age difference, he was always easy to talk to and could relate to me on just about any topic.
On Saturday mornings, he would drive students to picket at the Planned Parenthood abortion “clinic”. We liked to give him a hard time about his driving because Brother Joe took the saying “Jesus is my co-pilot” quite literally. Somehow, we always made it there safely. It was on the sidewalks outside that dreaded place that I witnessed faith in action meeting Christians from all walks of life. For the first time, I felt like I was doing something real and substantial for Jesus rather than hiding my faith as was my habit. More than that, I no longer felt so alone in my beliefs. I met countless regular, everyday people who loved God and the church and were comfortable sharing that with anyone.
I kept in touch with Brother Joe throughout college. Shortly after graduation, he was diagnosed with cancer and passed away the next year. During the times I saw him the month he died, he was as resolute in his faith as ever.
I attended his funeral with my two close friends, Steve and Jim. The church that evening was filled mainly with priests, nuns, and brothers. Songs were sung loudly by all and the responses were said with great conviction. It was one of the most powerful and joy-filled masses I had ever seen.
Afterwards, Jim commented, “Brother Joe is finally seeing what really happens during the mass.” When I asked him what he meant by that, Jim explained that during our lives we only see the physical realities at mass but after death, we see the spiritual realities as well and those spiritual realities were nothing short of awesome.
When I watched the video “The Veil Removed”, I immediately thought back to Jim’s comment. The video offers a glimpse of what those spiritual realities might look like. As I stood at mass today thinking about this, I couldn’t help but smile in wonder knowing that there were angels and saints with me in that church as I watched Jesus say through His priest, “This is my body, which will be given up for you.”