If we really believed in heaven, we might approach death as our final surrender into the hands of God
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Church tradition sets November aside as the month when we especially remember the dead in our prayers. Inspired by the various readings the Church offers this week, the question I’d like to ask is: What if we really believed?
What if — in accordance with Wisdom 3 — we really believed that “the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them?” That might give us the courage and confidence to do the right thing, whether we win or lose in earthly terms.
What if — in accordance with 2 Maccabees 12 — we really believed that purification is possible and necessary even after death? That might encourage us to work harder at giving up worldly attachments, knowing that we have to give them up sooner or later in order to enter heaven.
What if — in accordance with the startling line of thought articulated by St. Ambrose — we really believed that “God did not decree death from the beginning; He prescribed it as a remedy?” Prescribed it — because He’s always acting for our healing. Prescribed it as a remedy — because without it, we would be doomed to living forever within the moral and physical limits of a fallen world. In the deepest part of our soul, we don’t want to live in this world forever, because we were made for eternity. Death is the only way that we pass from the limits of this world to the unlimited joys of heaven (though we have the choice to remain in our chosen sins for all eternity, too). If we really believed this, it might undermine the lure of transhumanism, which only promises a “this-worldly” salvation.
What if — in accordance with St. Paul’s exhortation to the Romans — we really believed that “the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us”? We might we be less anxious, because the seed of eternity has already been planted in our souls. We might, at the same time, work harder to cultivate the gifts of the Holy Spirit, so that we might experience God’s love more deeply ourselves and share it more deeply with others. (What a world that would make!)
What if — in accordance with Jesus’ own words — we really believed that “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who have no need of repentance”? That might change the accusatory tone we often take with ourselves — and with others — and replace it with the gentle skill of Jesus.
If we really believed in heaven, we might approach death differently. Rather than seeing it as the enemy to be warded off at all costs, we might see it as our final surrender into the hands of God — and we might practice that surrender in our daily lives.
So, this November, let’s work on really believing!
