Saturday is the 20th anniversary of 9/11, one of the most shocking events we will remember in our lifetime. It is hard to understand that people can be so filled with hatred and have such a twisted understanding of God, that they believe they are pleasing God by killing innocent people and that they will go straight to heaven for doing it. It is also a reminder of the danger of extremist views in any religion.
In the last few years we have seen quite a number of these terrible disasters, where thousands of people are killed in an instant, like the tsunami in Indonesia and the hurricane in New Orleans. The one that stands out most in my mind is the tsunami in Indonesia in 2004, where over 230,000 people were killed in a few minutes; whole families wiped out in an instant. I remember one of the programs about it where they interviewed a man who had lost his wife and five children. What do you do after that? These things are very frightening and we hope and pray that they won’t come to our doorstep. However, one good thing that comes from them is that they make people think. They make us ask some of the most fundamental questions: what is my life about? Why am I here? What happens when I die? Does anything happen when I die? Depending on how I answer these questions will make a big difference as to how I live this life.
If death is the final end of us, the extinction of our existence, then it is surely the greatest disaster imaginable and there is no way we can be consoled when we lose someone we love. However, if death is just the end of our time here on earth and is then the beginning of an eternal life of happiness with God, where we are reunited with the people we love, in a place where we will no longer suffer, or have to say painful goodbyes, then it is very different. If there is a place that we call heaven, then these disasters like 9/11, the tsunami, the hurricanes and everything else, while they are terrible events, they mean that those who have died have gone to the same place that we hope to go, but they have gone there sooner than we were expecting. They have gone on ahead of us. If they really have gone to this place called heaven, then it puts things in a very different perspective. If the life they are now living is much better than this one, and we believe this is true because God has taught us this, then we needn’t be sorry for them because they didn’t get to live this life for longer. When people die young, we tend to think it is unfair, because they didn’t get the chance to do so many things. But if where they have gone is incomparably more wonderful than here, then we can be happy for them that they no longer have to go through the evils of this world. Personally, I would much prefer to be in heaven.
The hardest part is for those left behind, because we can’t see any further than death. We are suddenly cut off from the ones we love and it causes us great loneliness and pain. We believe and hope, yes, but we don’t know for sure, because the next world is hidden from us. Why is it hidden from us? Wouldn’t it be much easier if we could see what awaits us? It would be easier, but then we would not have the chance to grow in holiness, to grow closer to God. Part of the struggle of faith, is the fact that we don’t know and God calls us to persevere, to continue to do what is right, even though we cannot see what awaits us. He is asking us to trust him. There is this beautiful passage in St. John’s Gospel which I usually read at funerals:
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. Trust in God still and trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come and take you with me, so that where I am, you may be too.’ (John 14:1 ff)
How are we sure there is a heaven? Mainly because God has taught us this and has taught us that this life is merely a preparation for it. If we believe that, and I certainly do, then it will make a big difference as to how we live this life. If there is nothing after this life, then you might as well grab all you can now, so to speak. But if there is something much better, as we believe, then it is well worth making sacrifices for it and not living in a totally selfish way.
Jesus spent most of his ministry teaching the people about the Kingdom of God, which begins here, but is mostly experienced in the next life. Why would Jesus bother doing this if it wasn’t true? Why would he go through the terrible death he went through, if there was nothing after? The miracles that Jesus worked were a sign of what awaits us. He brought healing everywhere he went. This was also a sign of what awaits us.
Over the last century Our Lady has appeared in many parts of the world, and one of the reasons is to remind us that heaven is real and that it is worth living this life as well as we can, because there are consequences to how we live.
When people die it is natural that we mourn for them, but if we want to show them that we love them, then the best thing we can do is to pray for them. Today many people will come to a funeral, but not that many of them believe in praying for the person who has died. Our prayers for them are of much more value than our tears.
When someone dies we usually find ourselves saying, ‘At least they are in heaven now.’ The reality is that they are probably not there right away, because very few people are so close to God when they die, that they are able to come into the direct presence of God. It would simply be too much for us. No sin can exist in the presence of God. How many people die without any sin, or without having to make any atonement necessary for their sins? So there is what we call Purgatory, a purification, a time of getting ready for heaven, or adjusting to the light, if you like. Imagine coming to a place where the light was a hundred times brighter than the sun. We wouldn’t be able for it right away, so we have to spend a while getting used to this more intense light, if you like, and also atoning for, or making up for, what we have done wrong that we have not repented for. Purgatory is a final purification. This life is a kind of purification too, but not as intense.
What about the idea of hell? Is that just a medieval fairy tale, to scare us? It might sound strange but it makes a lot of sense that hell is real for the simple reason that we have free choice. We can choose to reject God if we wish. If God is all that is good, beautiful, loving, perfect, etc., then hell is the loss of all this: so hell is isolation, darkness, pain, separation, etc.
God has created us for happiness, for a life with him and united again with the people we love. And God who is all powerful, will do everything possible to get us there. So if we are open to God, even in the smallest way, we have nothing to worry about. We needn’t be afraid either for those we love if we are praying for them, because God is just as concerned about them as we are and will do everything to help them.
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. Trust in God still, and trust in me.’
No comments:
Post a Comment