Since today is Hallowe'en I thought it would be a perfect time for me to throw out my theories about what happens to us after we die. The Catholic church does not endorse what I am about to write, and I will admit that some of my theories come from watching John Edwards (the medium, not the candidate!) and the Long Island Medium on TLC. (and this gives you a chance to skip today's blog if either of those people or the possibility of ghosts makes you snort in derision--move on to your next blogger and I'll see you next Monday!)
So take this all with a grain of salt. If I am so off the mark that I am being heretical, please inform me, but I don't think my theories (and they are just theories- we won't know until we die what truly happens!) are all that bad.
My first theory is that we have a choice after we die when we stand before the face of God to either say to God, "Thank You for accepting me into Heaven by Your grace and love. Your love is immense and You are a forgiving God," OR,
"God, You don't know what an unworthy being I am. You say I'm welcome in Heaven, but I've done so many bad things that I couldn't possibly be worthy of Your love. I'm choosing to separate myself from You and decline Your invitation to be with You always."
I know it seems silly, but I think some of us would truly decline God's invitation to Heaven. To paraphrase Scott Peck in May I Have This Dance?: God is like the lover who says, "Come to bed, I love you," and we say, "I can't, I'm too fat, I'm too ugly." Still God says, "I don't think you're too fat or ugly, I think you're beautiful. Come to bed," and still we say, "No."
Who knows better? Could we possibly know better than God if we are worthy or not? Aren't we letting pride get in the way when we think we can tell God that we're less worthy than He thinks we are?
This leads to my second theory that ghosts are people who have died and have separated themselves from God. Since I also think that Hell is being separated from God for all eternity- I think ghosts are in Hell. It's a leap, I know, but if someone accepted God's invitation to be with Him in Heaven when they died, why would they be wandering the Earth floating after earthly pursuits? The ghostly state doesn't have to be eternal, many a ghost has eventually gone towards the light. I like to think that God in His infinite love and wisdom eternally gives us a chance to be with Him, it's just that some of us are just too stubborn to ever take Him up on it.
So today, have fun with the ghoulies and ghosties and long leggedy beasties, but don't forget to stop a moment to thank God for seeing you as a beautiful being who is worthy to spend eternity with Him.
That's a Treat!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
Man Plans, God Laughs
This past weekend the end of the world didn't happen- for the second time this year, no less! A local preacher told his congregation that the end of the world would be May 21, 2011. Obviously nothing of Earth-shattering proportions happened on May 21st. The preacher claimed he had miscalculated and that the actual end of the world was supposed to be October 21, 2011. Well, the world is still here- yay! Now there's a cautionary tale if there ever was one- don't ever think you have God's plan figured out. Jesus said we would not know the time or the day, just be ready. Isn't that our call? Be ready- God has a perfect plan for us, but we don't have the minds to figure it out, nor should we try to figure it out. Someone once said, "If you think you understand God, you don't." As stated in the Desiderata, "... and whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should." I know the Desiderata was not talking about God specifically, but it is true, none the less- God's plan is unfolding as it should. All God asks of us (to paraphrase Micah 6:8 and the song, "This Is" by Liam Lawton) is to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with our God.
Monday, October 17, 2011
State of Confusion
I am so confused!!! What is Cesar's? What is God's? Some things are obvious, but most things are subtle and difficult to decide. The Gospel this past Sunday not only brought up the question of "Death and Taxes" but also the question of social justice for me. (maybe not for you, but my mind jumps all over the place!)
I read an article on the internet by Mike Daisey that says Apple products are made in sweatshops overseas and that threw me for a loop. Do I stop buying Apple products? Do I rationalize this by saying that these sweatshop employees at least have jobs and are probably happy for the opportunity to earn money? Do I lobby Apple to shut down their production overseas, bring it here to America and then not be able to buy their products because the price would be too astronomical? Then do I (and those like me...) run the risk by my 'good intentions' of causing Apple to lose so much money that they have to close, thus putting everyone out of a job? When Jesus was confronted with beggars outside of the synagogue did He find them a place to sleep, a meal, and get them a job? How far do I go? I am linked to so many corporate entities in my daily existence that it seems impossible for me to keep track of or even discover which ones are socially just and which aren't. While that doesn't give me a 'pass' to throw up my hands and say, "Corporate exploitation will always be with us..." it does call me to try to educate myself and see if I can push for a socially just change. Perhaps I can write to Apple and ask them to consider improving conditions in their overseas factories. The confusion continues...
I read an article on the internet by Mike Daisey that says Apple products are made in sweatshops overseas and that threw me for a loop. Do I stop buying Apple products? Do I rationalize this by saying that these sweatshop employees at least have jobs and are probably happy for the opportunity to earn money? Do I lobby Apple to shut down their production overseas, bring it here to America and then not be able to buy their products because the price would be too astronomical? Then do I (and those like me...) run the risk by my 'good intentions' of causing Apple to lose so much money that they have to close, thus putting everyone out of a job? When Jesus was confronted with beggars outside of the synagogue did He find them a place to sleep, a meal, and get them a job? How far do I go? I am linked to so many corporate entities in my daily existence that it seems impossible for me to keep track of or even discover which ones are socially just and which aren't. While that doesn't give me a 'pass' to throw up my hands and say, "Corporate exploitation will always be with us..." it does call me to try to educate myself and see if I can push for a socially just change. Perhaps I can write to Apple and ask them to consider improving conditions in their overseas factories. The confusion continues...
Monday, October 10, 2011
Let's Clean Up Our Act
The Gospel yesterday dealt with the wedding guest who didn't wear a wedding garment to the feast and was "cast... into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.". (Matthew 22:1-14)
Sounds dismal, doesn't it? If someone who wasn't expecting to go to the wedding feast can be thrown out for not wearing the right clothes, what chance do we have? It makes getting to Heaven sound random and completely at the whim of God (see below for a sidebar). It may sound that way, but my pastor said yesterday that the wedding garment meant clean clothes and that not wearing a wedding garment meant not cleaning up your act. That made me feel better. When the man was asked why he didn't wear his wedding garment, he didn't have a reply. I almost imagine him shrugging and mumbling, "I dunno." His passivity was a choice- not making a choice is still a choice. If we choose to be passive and 'let' life happen to us, then we will have to accept the consequences. If we choose to be active and clean up our act, then we can hope to reap the rewards.
Sidebar: "...completely at the whim of God..." A week ago our associate pastor told this joke:
A man died and was at the gates of Heaven. St. Peter said to him, "Tell me why you should get into Heaven. You have to score 100 points, so make it good!" The man thought for awhile and began, "Well, I was a good Catholic, I had all my sacraments, I went to Mass every Sunday, I went to Reconciliation at least twice a year, I observed Holy Days, I said Grace at every meal, I said my prayers every day, I read the Bible and meditated on the readings every day, I honored my marriage vows and I was a good father to my 12 kids, grandfather to my 42 grandkids, and great grandfather to my 6 great grandkids." St. Peter said, " That's wonderful! One point, you have 99 more to go." The man was surprised, but continued, "OK, I volunteered at my church, I was a Lector, a Eucharistic Minister, I took Communion to the sick, I helped at the soup kitchen, I donated money and clothes to the poor, I gave 10% of my income to the Church, I took Communion to prisoners, built houses with Habitat for Humanity and I worked for Catholic Charities." St. Peter smiled and said, "That's fantastic! One point, now you have 98 to go." The man was reeling now, what more should he have done to get into Heaven? He exclaimed to St. Peter, "Goodness! At this rate I'll only get in by the grace of God!" St. Peter cried, "That's right! 100 points- you can enter Heaven now!" It isn't at the whim of God, but it is by the grace of God that we can enter Heaven!!
Sounds dismal, doesn't it? If someone who wasn't expecting to go to the wedding feast can be thrown out for not wearing the right clothes, what chance do we have? It makes getting to Heaven sound random and completely at the whim of God (see below for a sidebar). It may sound that way, but my pastor said yesterday that the wedding garment meant clean clothes and that not wearing a wedding garment meant not cleaning up your act. That made me feel better. When the man was asked why he didn't wear his wedding garment, he didn't have a reply. I almost imagine him shrugging and mumbling, "I dunno." His passivity was a choice- not making a choice is still a choice. If we choose to be passive and 'let' life happen to us, then we will have to accept the consequences. If we choose to be active and clean up our act, then we can hope to reap the rewards.
Sidebar: "...completely at the whim of God..." A week ago our associate pastor told this joke:
A man died and was at the gates of Heaven. St. Peter said to him, "Tell me why you should get into Heaven. You have to score 100 points, so make it good!" The man thought for awhile and began, "Well, I was a good Catholic, I had all my sacraments, I went to Mass every Sunday, I went to Reconciliation at least twice a year, I observed Holy Days, I said Grace at every meal, I said my prayers every day, I read the Bible and meditated on the readings every day, I honored my marriage vows and I was a good father to my 12 kids, grandfather to my 42 grandkids, and great grandfather to my 6 great grandkids." St. Peter said, " That's wonderful! One point, you have 99 more to go." The man was surprised, but continued, "OK, I volunteered at my church, I was a Lector, a Eucharistic Minister, I took Communion to the sick, I helped at the soup kitchen, I donated money and clothes to the poor, I gave 10% of my income to the Church, I took Communion to prisoners, built houses with Habitat for Humanity and I worked for Catholic Charities." St. Peter smiled and said, "That's fantastic! One point, now you have 98 to go." The man was reeling now, what more should he have done to get into Heaven? He exclaimed to St. Peter, "Goodness! At this rate I'll only get in by the grace of God!" St. Peter cried, "That's right! 100 points- you can enter Heaven now!" It isn't at the whim of God, but it is by the grace of God that we can enter Heaven!!
Monday, October 3, 2011
Where Do We Go From Here?
Can anyone dispute that one of Jesus' message to us is that God loves us so much we will have a place in Heaven if we try to follow Him? (You can dispute it if you want, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it!) I began to ponder (yes, I ponder from time to time- it sounds so much nicer than brood ) what do I think will happen when I die? I don't like to think about the act of dying (Will it hurt? Will I go in my sleep?), but what I might encounter after I've gone through the tunnel of light and popped out into the after-life. (If you are someone who doesn't believe in an after-life why are your reading a Catholic blog?) What I like to think will happen when I die is that I will stand before the face of God (which will be a loving experience, not a scary experience) and review my life with Him. I think that we human beings have the choice to stay with God or to separate ourselves from Him. It seems that it would be an easy choice, but pride or fear or even arrogance can cloud that decision. After seeing everything you did and didn't do in your life, would you really think you deserved to be with God? You might be afraid of possible consequences, penances, God's anger or scorn. I'd like to think that after a life review and my petition for forgiveness and willingness to be a messenger for God and help others still on Earth, that God would welcome me into His arms and into His Kingdom of Heaven. I just hope I have the good sense to accept His invitation!
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