Every Earthly Pleasure is a Passing Joy

Every Earthly Pleasure is a Passing Joy

Retired Pastor’s Column

All Saints Day 2026

“Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?” I said to him, “My lord, you are the one who knows.” He said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.”

from Revelation 7

Jesus set us an example by his own life as to what truly matters in this world. By listening to him, we will be ready to enter into eternity well-equipped and wealthy forever. Jesus, who alone among us has pre-existence, could have chosen to be born in any circumstance, but instead he entered a world of poverty, with a father who took humble jobs to support their family, and they were even forced to be refugees when those in power sought to kill him. Bethlehem and Nazareth, both then and now, are not centers of wealth and power; and Jesus had none of these things either. None of us would willingly choose such conditions in which to be born, but Jesus did. Jesus will say to us on the last day of our lives: “I taught you what was important by my life, how I lived and how I died. Did you imitate me in some way?”

The Beatitudes, which are the Gospel reading for All Saints Day, make many of us uncomfortable. Most of us would not choose to be meek or poor or in mourning or persecuted, for example, but these things have a way of finding us. Anyway, poverty is not always a lack of material goods, but can be that sense that we are not in control of our lives, for example. This can be a blessing.

Christ wishes to empty us out somehow so that we can be filled with him. One of the main ways that he accomplishes this is through suffering or the experience of some loss, or the realization that we don't have the answers, or an experience of being emptied out. Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, whom John Paul II called the greatest saint of the 20th century, had such an experience of darkness at the end of her life that all she could do was will to have faith. She chose Christ while feeling nothing. She wrote of this that all God wants is our emptiness. He sought to empty her out so that he could fill her with himself. Hers was a radical emptying.

Most of us will never experience anything that painful or difficult. But if we do, we're in good company because many of the saints, including Mother Teresa of Calcutta, experienced this. In many ways, the degree of our ability to hold God in eternity is measured by how empty we are of ourselves, by how much room there is for him.

How much humility do I have? Pride is putting my will, my way above all other things; humility seeks God’s will, God’s way. Sometimes we are misjudged, perhaps even publicly. Or we may suffer some kind of involuntary reversal of health or finances, or are unable, by ourselves, to find a way out of our problems. But then we can ask ourselves, what am I here to learn, really?

Life is in the end not about wealth, fame and power at all, but about growing in holiness by accepting in humility what God permits in our lives as we strive to better our condition, and to serve Christ by serving others. Those who listen to the Scriptures and the Church will find themselves very wealthy, indeed, at the end of their lives, while those who did not listen will find that every earthly pleasure is a passing joy.

                                                                                          Father Gary