Welcome to our daily rotary meditation. Let's begin in the name of the Father and the

son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let's call to mind all those we've promised to pray for.

So from our last meditation, we made the point that there are two sins that kill hope, despair and presumption.

Now presumption means thinking of heaven as automatic.

An incredible number of Christians have somehow diluted themselves into thinking that they,

and everyone they care about, are somehow guaranteed to get into heaven.

We see this a lot of funerals.

Instead of praying for the soul of the deceased,

we just assume they're in heaven right now. We get the idea that God just gives

everybody a pass for all the selfishness, all the neglect, all the wasted life, and the

vices they've showed.

And we do this largely because it makes us feel

totally secure about our own prospects.

This kind of attitude, the attitude of presumption is of course an

attitude which makes the virtue of hope irrelevant. Why bother striving for something that's already in the bag?

But remember this, heaven is a relationship and no relationship is automatic.

Our father who art in heaven, hallow would be your name,

Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us to stay our daily bread and forgive come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us to stay our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass

against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,

Amen.

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