I’ve never seen a U-Haul following a hearse.

One of the great witnesses of faith that I had growing up was Brother Alphonsus Martel, FSC, who taught business classes at Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul. Brother Martel also was in charge of the outside maintenance of the campus and most importantly taught life lessons. 

Brother Martel was full of one-liners, and eventually if you got to know him well enough, they became part of who you were as well. Well one of the lines that has always stuck with me is Brother Martell saying, “I’ve never seen a U-Haul following a hearse,” which is a true statement. We can’t bring our earthly possessions with us when we die, they are all left behind, and when we die, we simply leave this world the way we came into it, with nothing but ourselves.

In today’s first reading from Deuteronomy 30:15-20 we hear Moses saying:

"Today I have set before you

life and prosperity, death and doom.

If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,

which I enjoin on you today,

loving him, and walking in his ways,

and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees,

you will live and grow numerous,

and the LORD, your God,

will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.

If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen,

but are led astray and adore and serve other gods,

I tell you now that you will certainly perish;

you will not have a long life

on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy.

I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:

I have set before you life and death,

the blessing and the curse.

Choose life, then,

that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God,

heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.

For that will mean life for you,

a long life for you to live on the land that the LORD swore

he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

That’s right, it’s that easy. All we have to do is chose life. When we do, we will live forever with God, like Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. This also means that we have to live for something more than just this world. This does not mean that we cannot have any possessions (just look at all the ice-fishing gear that I have), but we cannot live trying to attain just worldly possessions. We are called to walk in the ways of the Lord, and have our every action be connected to God.

This is not always easy, but when we start to do it, it becomes easier and easier, because what we are doing is saying yes to God!!!! Remember, repentance is a radical conversion, so in order to do this we must be radical sometimes. But it is all worth it, because what we are doing is choosing life over death, life with God eternally. Remember, when we die, there is no U-haul that is going to follow us. Rather, it will be a procession of people who hopefully have seen you as a great witness, not only in this world, but also one who leads others to the greatest reward: life with God eternally.

I’ll leave you with the Gospel of today from Luke 9:22-25:

Jesus said to his disciples:

"The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected

by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,

and be killed and on the third day be raised."

Then he said to all,

"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself

and take up his cross daily and follow me.

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,

but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

What profit is there for one to gain the whole world

yet lose or forfeit himself?"

P.S. If you have any memories of Brother Martel or some pictures of him, feel free to share below.