I don’t know where you live, but this has been a very hot and dry
July here in Nebraska. Electric bills are going to be “going through the roof,” and there are those who will
find paying the bills a bit of a challenge.
Our Lady of Medjugorje once said: “Everything you have is a gift
from God.” I think of that often as I drive “my” little 5 year-old Nissan Sentra around. It’s very
reliable, rides well for a small car, and of course, as Our Lady said ... is a gift from God.
I thank God for the window air conditioning unit. But I’ve always
preferred heat to cold ... guess it’s because I’m of Mediterranean descent. I just don’t like the winter cold.
Everytime it gets very hot outside, I think of Sr. Mary Daniel, RSM.
She was my English teacher when I was in high school. Old St. Mary’s High in Omaha was several stories
high. On windy days the Sisters who slept on the top floors could feel the building sway. But, of
course, in those days there was no air conditioning. So when it was hot outside, we were hotter yet in the
classrooms.
We girls tried to be ingenious. We made fans out of our notebook paper to fan ourselves.
Imagine what it was like to be a teacher in front of 30 girls all fanning themselves with white notebook
paper. If we all could have been in unison, it might not have been so bad, but for dear Sr. Mary Daniel, it
was bothersome, annoying, and unappreciated.
What she told us to make us stop, I shall never forget. She said: “Now girls, stop fanning
yourselves. If you were dead, you’d be hotter yet.”
Of course, we stopped the fanning, grinned a bit, and considered the fact that she well could have
been correct. Hopefully purgatory, not the other place!
Sr. Mary Daniel died not too long ago. She had to be close to 90.
To the end she maintained her Irish love for her red hair which she helped along with a bit of dye.
So hot weather is a good time to consider what spending eternity
would be like in the “flames” of hell. There’s no air conditioning there. There’s no notebook paper to fan
oneself. And very likely there is no Sr. Mary Daniel to tell souls not to fan themselves. Wouldn’t do any
good anyhow! The fanning might just “fan” the flames.
So as we experience the air conditioning and thank God for it as a
gift, let’s pray for ourselves and all others that we not suffer the eternal flames of hell and even escape
stopping off at purgatory. It is possible with the grace of God.
Stay cool! God bless you!