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In the context of the Spiritual Exercises, St Ignatius invites his retreatants to meditate upon the Last things; however these last things should be among the most important things in our spiritual life.

In Spiritual Theology the technical word is “Eschatology” which means the study of the “Last Things.” Some authors write about the “four” last things; but we would like to add a fifth.

What then are these “five” last things? Here they are for your reflection and meditation:  Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell and, yes, Purgatory. There we have the big four! Let us give a brief reflection in these last things which are indeed very important things!

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God is love, but God desires to be loved in return. To love demands freedom; freedom, however, always demands a risk of abusing it!  In other words with respect to freedom Adam and Eve could have either used the freedom to glorify and praise God or to abuse their freedom and allow sin to enter into the world.

The only prohibition that God imposed on Adam and Eve was to avoid eating the fruit in the middle of the Garden, the fruit from the tree of knowledge; if done, they would die! The life of man and woman on earth is a constant testing ground to either obey God or reject God’s command. This goes back to the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.

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Father Ed Broom, OMV, is Associate Pastor of St. Peter Chanel Church in Hawaiian Gardens, California. He is a member of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary and was ordained by Saint John Paul II on May 25, 1986. Fr. Ed teaches Catholic Ignatian Marian Spirituality through articles, podcasts, a radio show, retreats and spiritual direction.

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Prayer is the key to salvation.  St. Augustine says that he who prays well lives well; he who lives well dies well; and to he who dies well then all is well. St. Alphonsus reiterates the same principle:  “He who prays much will be saved; he who does not pray will be damned; he who prays little places in jeopardy his eternal salvation.”  The same saint asserted that there are neither strong people nor weak people in the world, but those who know how to pray and those who do not. In other words, prayer is our strength in all times and places.

Seeing the Apostles overwhelmed with work Jesus exhorted them: “Come apart for a while and rest…” This rest that Jesus mentioned has classically been interpreted as a call to the spiritual retreat!

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With respect to Ignatian Holy Indifference, St Ignatius divides it into four separate categories.  “Therefore, we must make ourselves indifferent to all created things, as far as we are allowed by free choice and are not under any prohibition. Consequently, as far as we are concerned, we should not prefer health to sickness, riches to poverty, honor to dishonor, a long life to a short. The same holds for all other things.” (Spiritual Exercises # 23)