Blog # 38 ON OUR WAY HOME

Blog # 38 ON OUR WAY HOME In the sixth chapter of St. John's Gospel, Jesus tells us not to lay up for ourselves treasures on earth where thieves break in and steal and rust and moths destroy but to lay up for ourselves treasures in Heaven, for where our treasure is there our hearts will be. Here on earth God has given us many good things. But He wants us to know that of all the gifts He has given us none of them is everlasting but ourselves. Clothes wear out, health will fail, riches can be stolen and money will be left behind. The Savior wants us to know very definitely that our plans for life should never stop with this world alone. At death which is the end of this life our real life is just beginning. We do not think about Heaven enough. For example, when is the most recent time you sat down and did some thinking about Heaven? Isn't most of our thinking done about this world, our business our homes our neighbors our families? We are dealing with these realities all day long but how seldom we think of them in a direct relationship to Heaven. If any one of us were asked "Do you want to 'go' to Heaven?", I imagine all of us would say yes. But how many of us are actually doing something significant about it? Whenever we are going somewhere important we spend time getting ready. For an examination in school we prepare. For a business meeting we look our best. And for the greatest thing that any of us could ever look forward to, namely eternal life in Heaven, few seem to be making precisely identified preparations. Whenever we find people traveling to California, New York, or any other place in the world we find them on the way all the time from the time they leave one place until they reach the other. And it anyone stops them along the way and asks where they are going they do not have to hesitate about an answer but come right out with "I'm going to California!", or "I'm going to New York." It should be no different with the trip all of us are taking from the time we knew right from wrong until the time we die. God is calling us to Heaven. He made us for this. We do not have a lasting city here. All God's gifts are intended to draw us to Himself and to prepare us for an eternal home in His love. We call that Heaven. Now is the time to get ready. Here is a little thing you might try to help you remember and experience in the three dimensions of reality what I have been trying to share with you in words. I am imagining you are sitting at a computer in a room of your house or office. Choose the nearest door out of the room. Then get up and walk out the door. One single step will take you out of the room, but every step you take on the way out counts. The final step is based upon them all. A wrong step will take you in a wrong direction. That is the way it is with life, Heaven, and the way to 'get' there. The instant of our death is the final step into eternal life. For a sincere knowlegeable Chistian believer, all the way to Heaven is Heaven on earth. but the final step, death, is the most significant and the best. As with the story of the first miracle Jesus publicly performed at the wedding feast of Cana, in the miracle of our death He has saved the 'best wine until now'. Jesus told us this clearly enough when He said there is no greater love a person can have than to lay down one's life for a friend. All of our life we should be doing this, for God and for one another. (Mark 12: 28 - 31 ) Every day counts. Every day is a step toward the door. Our conscience should be our call to holiness. Our life day by day should be an echo to that call. We are indeed going somewhere. Let's make sure we are going in the right direction. Jesus, our Good Shepherd, be our guide , always! Help us to listen to You, to learn from You and to follow You. Amen! In our daily experience of faith,hope and love for God we are in a sense already there! Thank You, Lord.