Hereafter

It's All Saints Day, the true meaning of Halloween (all Hallow's Eve), in which we honor the men and women who have come before us in our faith and are recognized as saints because of their holiness of life. It is a reminder to all of us what our true destiny is, and that is to be in heaven with all the angels and saints worshiping our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is a new movie, directed by Clint Eastwood, called Hereafter, which deals with life after death as well as near death experiences. It is a very powerful movie with some intense scenes. Clint Eastwood avoids mentioning any religious creed in the movie (except for a very short scene at a funeral with what looks like an Anglican priest), but he hits the spirituality of the question of what happens after death. Of course, in the movie are the skeptics, those who believe that after we die we basically become food for worms. Reading comments about the movie ons ome websites, you will also find that the skeptics are all around us, usually saying that Christians who believe in a heaven are delusional and believe in fairy tales. I have a difficult time believing that the Apostles would risk their lives for a fairy tale. Why would those eleven men, plus St Paul, spread the news about Jesus Christ's rising from the dead if arrest, torture and death were the result of their preaching? In any event, everyone will eventually find out for himself whetehr there is life after death. In the meantime, let us pray for the intercession of the saints that more people would come to recognize Jesus Christ as our Savior, the Messiah, sent by God to free us from a life of sin.