What will matter

This was composed by Michael Josephson, and sent to me, from the United States, by my brother. I pass it on to you, with reverence!

Ready or not, someday it will all come to an end.

There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.

All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else.

Your wealth, fame and temporal power will

            shrivel to irrelevance.

It will not matter what you owned, or what

            you were owed.

Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies

            will finally disappear.

So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to-do lists

            will expire.

The wins and losses that once seemed so important,

            will fade away.

It won’t matter where you came from, or on what side

            of the tracks you lived, at the end.

It won’t matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant.

Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So what will matter?

How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought, but what

            you built; not what you got, but what you gave!

What will matter is not your success, but how hard

            you tried.

What will matter is not what you learned,

            but what  you taught.

What will matter is every act of integrity,

            compassion, courage or sacrifice that

            enriched,  empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.

What will matter is not your competence,

            but your character.

What will matter is not how many people you

            knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you’re gone.

What will matter is not your memories,

            but the memories that live in those

            who loved you.

What will matter is how long you will be

            remembered, by whom and for what.

Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by

            accident.

It’s not a matter of chance, but of choice.

Choose to live a life that matters.

Christ Our Lord, in the 25th Chapter of the Gospel of Saint Matthew, also sets out to tell us what will really matter at the end. He says that when you stand all alone before that great white throne of God to be judged, he will say to you:

“Come, ye blessed of my Father, and possess

            the kingdom  that was prepared for you

            since the creation of the world.

For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat.

I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink.

I was naked, and you clothed me.

I was sick, and you took care of me.

I was in prison, and you came to comfort me.

I was a stranger, and you took me in.”

The Gospel says that you will wonder about this, because you will not remember doing it. You will ask: “Lord, when did I do all this?”

And he will say:

“Amen, Amen, I say to you. . . . . so long as you did it for the least of these, my little ones, you did it for me!”

 Michael Josephson tells us, loud and clear, that everything we do on this earth is of tremendous importance.

And Our Lord tells us why. If we do what really matters, we will enter into life eternal, where eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, nor has it entered into the mind of man to conceive the joy that God has prepared for those who love him.

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