The path to another life

By Richard Thompson

“Many people begin, but few finish. And we, who are trying to behave as God’s children, have to be among those few. Remember that only work that is well done and lovingly completed deserves the praise of the Lord which is to be found in Holy Scripture: ‘better is the end of a task than its beginning’.” —St Josemaria Escriva

Kirk de Souza  attends St Finbar’s and is a board member of Arbor/Rosewood/Trimont. He has sat on Maple Leaf and Dunross boards.

All his off time is spent with family and friends who are most important in his life. A St Mary’s College past student, he later attended McMaster University and Radio College of Canada, studying Electrical Engineering Tech at both.

Understanding Kirk’s passage in life could never be attained in one interview but as I take heed to what inspires and calms him, I begin to find a greater faith in what our time on earth should be and not necessarily why we are here in the first place.

Kirk explains his journey through life. “Life has two absolutes; we are born, and we die and what counts is everything between. If we believe that our strategy in life is to make it to Heaven, as our second life, then we can easily ignore the obstacles of this life. We must accept that there are two entities that pull us every day, good and evil and that’s evident.” How we react of course is even more important.

During his university days, Kirk found his true faith as he studied the Bible and researched Catholicism further than most. “My faith was sealed when my first daughter was born and baptised 47 years ago… and that’s when I truly started to understand the importance of God in our lives. Christ’s prophecies and miracles convinced me that Jesus and Catholicism were what I believed in and as I studied the Bible more, I matured towards the importance of Opus Dei and the Work of God.”

Opus Dei, formally known as the Prelature of the Holy Cross was founded by a Catholic priest, Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, October  2, 1928 in Madrid, Spain. According to Escrivá, on that day he experienced a vision in which he “saw Opus Dei.” He gave the organisation the name ‘Opus Dei’, which in Latin means ‘work of God’.

Kirk seems so comfortable in his beliefs which comes from his acceptance that we are here for a transient time. This gives him self-confidence and self-assurance. “By attending weekly Holy Mass, I find more faith and comfort using this special occasion as an opportunity for prayer, prayer which is needed to fit into God’s plan.”

A plan I don’t understand, especially with war, misery, Covid and who knows what else the world will throw at us, but as Kirk pointed out, “we are actually going through a peaceful time for mankind, over hundreds of years we had wars, tyranny and hardship; be it the Roman Empire and its militant expansion.”

When you take a closer look there were (to name a few): The Vietnam War, The Great Northern War (1700–1721), the First Punic War (24-241 BC), The Achinese War (1873–1904). There was even the War of the Roses, which I naively thought to be an analogy for conflict between married couples. There was the Hundred Years War (1337–1453), between England and France with an estimated 1.5 –2 million deaths.

Of course, my conversation leaned towards different times and nuclear fears of Russia and Ukraine but as he calmly put it: “If God is at my side, why should I fear anything? He is far more powerful than any man. We need to reconcile our minds to death and that’s what many younger people have a hard time doing.”

How often do we challenge death? I do daily with the fear that as a father my sons may never have a childhood that is normal, especially after Covid. I may never have grandkids to share the wonders and kindness that life brings if another world war becomes a reality.

Kirk reminded me, “In Heaven, God offers love to everyone, who we lived here with, be it our deceased grandparents or our lost sons and daughters. God offers harmony in Heaven, in a kinder place where evil doesn’t exist. What more can we want?”

Humankind will find the love and peace we need; we just need to believe.