Sunday, August 31, 2014

Eternal Love of Neighbor

  Heaven is, well, heaven, right? Greater than 7th heaven, lovelier than the heaven above, and sweeter than sweet heaven.

  But what if I told you, you aren't the only one invited, and not only you, but those who you struggle with here on earth?

  Does this make you think twice? Does heaven sound like heaven, a place where that mean, annoying, inconsiderate person is there with YOU for ETERNITY !

  Patheos's blogger Rebecca Hamilton makes this point in " If you don't like black people, you may not want to plan to go to heaven.... "

  Although, she does a very unchristian thing in her title, she invites someone to avoid heaven, very unchristian, in fact the opposite of everything a christian should do.

  But aside from the words of choice, her message is clear, and just might be the golden ticket to Heaven.

  If we treat everyone in the world as if we'll have to live with them for an eternity in Heaven, maybe we'd find it a little more practical and wise to ...... love your neighbor.

 If we live this realization out, maybe we'll see that we should ...... forgive as He has forgives.

  I mean, if God can accept them into Heaven, or at least give them an invitation, shouldn't we treat them at least worthy of that invitation which they also received?

 To me, it seems this can be a very useful mental practice, to remember that there are great chances that our mother-in-law, our annoying neighbor, our helpless loved one, or our wayward boss just might all be right there sitting across from you at the Heavenly Banquet to which we are all invited.

 If you're Catholic, think of the patience and unpleasant interaction we may experience with these people as a bit of purgatory on Earth.  I would venture to say that most of the suffering in purgatory would feel and look a lot like those moments we have on Earth when people upset us, or we simply don't like them.

 Purgatory is probably a good mechanism to get us prepared to have these people as eternal comrades.

 This is all right in the heart of the Catholic faith, we are called to communion of heaven and earth, man and God.

  Maybe to get to Heaven, we may want to act like everybody is already an eternal being, as they already are !

 It's just not our choice what is their final residence, which is why Jesus tells us ...... "don't judge."

 We are not to judge the cruelty or evilness of any of our neighbors, God judges their destination.  To hold away form someone because you think they are cruel, may come back on you in purgatory.

 Thou shall not judge, means don't condemn in a way which makes you not value their existence because you think they are so... /%&E%¤&%( .. that you think of them as a "bad person."

 Good people act bad as well, only the bad love the bad more than the good, however.  Are we to be the judge of this? No, of course not, we judge only what we can measure and see, as in their action and the consequences of the action, but never their eternal good.

 All are called to be forgiven, and all are called to love our neighbors and our enemies!

  If not, one or either of you may lose sight of the eternal promises offered to you.  Don't let hate or rashness ruin you chance at a seat at the Great Banquet !




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