On the other side...

The Blog "in Him We Live And Move And Have Our Being" posted this great story the other day.

A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to leave the examination room and said, "'Doctor, I am afraid to die. Tell me what lies on the other side."

Very quietly, the doctor said, "I don't know."

"You don't know? You're a Christian man, and don't know what's on the other side?'

The doctor was holding the handle of the door. On the other side came a sound of scratching and whining, and as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.

Read here to find out what the doctor said to his patient after this.

Am I Going to Hell?

So I led a retreat about a year ago and was reminded of a moment on the weekend when we talked in a Question Box session about purgatory. I took a survey of the room.

"How many people here think that they are going to heaven?"

Not one hand went up and then sheepishly one person dared to say that she merited heaven.

"OK, how many people think that they're going to hell?"

Immediately about 6 hands went up without hesitation.

I slumped in my chair. Do we all think we're doomed? Is this how little we think of God's love?

Now I suppose, I don't think I merit heaven either--at least not immediately, which I think gives a lot of credence to the church's teaching on purgatory. Innately, perhaps we all don't think that we are perfect, but I also don't think that many of us reallythink that God is going to dump us off to eternal damnation either (although I don't doubt that some of us can indeed choose to ignore God's mercy and refuse to change our own ways in response to that and end up there).

So I'd like to throw this out there to y'all...

What do you think about heaven and hell? Purgatory? Where do you think you'll end up?

What the Hell is Purgatory?

Fr James Martin and myself tell you all about it!

“None of us are perfect but all of us are on a journey toward God” is one of the ways we use to explain what the name Busted Halo® means. Given our name it is no surprise that people often ask us:

“Since I’m not perfect, how can I get into heaven?”

Heaven is defined by the Catholic Church as “a perfect life with the Holy Trinity” and “ultimate end and fulfillment of our deepest human longings.”

But most of us feel we fall short of deserving to be in full union with God. While all of us sin, though, most of us don’t sin in such a grave way that we cut ourselves off completely from God. And even if we do commit grave sins, many of us seek reconciliation with God throughout our lives.

So, if heaven is this state of perfection… and one dies while being far from perfect… how can one enter heaven? The answer, Father James Martin, SJ, tells us, is purgatory. So just what the hell is purgatory?

More on Purgatory can be found here in the rest of this BustedHalo "Googling God Section" mixed media piece.