Please pray for a family

I have spend pretty much the whole day with a family whose son was in the intensive care unit suffering from heart failure. He died this evening, aged 21.

I am pleased to report that J received all the sacraments and blessings of the Church — I don’t think there was one more prayer in that prayer book for me to say. The Good News is, this means he is in Heaven. Now I am not one to canonize people on my own, but if the faith of the Church means anything, and if the sacraments and indulgences of the Church mean anything, that’s where he is. Just think about it:

Original sin washed away in baptism? Check.

Forgivness of actual sins thanks to the Anointing of the Sick? Check.

Apostolic pardon for the plenary indulgence granted to the dying? Check.

So the gates of Heaven are open in baptism, the gates of Hell are closed thanks to the forgiveness of sins, and the indulgence applies the treasury of merits of the communion of saints to whatever purgatory experience he might otherwise have to undergo. Bottom line? He’s in Heaven.

I love the sacraments. What an expression of God’s salvific will for us. Still, for the family that is left behind there is a lot left to live. Pray for them please.