Getting Ready for Heaven

Homily for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Ecclesiastes 1.2, 2.21-23 Psalm 90 Colossians 3.1-5, 9-11 Luke 12.13-21

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Well, it’s happened again. In case you haven’t heard, there is a new prediction of exactly when the world is going to end, and according to this particular interpretation of biblical prophecy, we don’t have much time. News media started picking up this story this past week, when bus benches in Colorado Springs and other cities starting having an advertisement on them. “Save the date!” it says. “Return of Christ: May 21, 2011.” As it turns out, there is a group of biblical scholars who believe that they have interpreted messages formerly hidden in the Bible that guarantee to give us the exact dates for all of the events associated with the end of all things. According to their calculations, Christ will return on May 21 of next year, the dead will be raised, and the final period of judgment will begin, with the complete end of the world coming five months later, on October 21, 2011.

As Catholics, we join with the overwhelming majority of Christians in saying that it is foolish to engage in this kind of speculation – Jesus himself is very clear that we will not know the day or the hour when the Son of Man returns. And, besides: the people who propose October 21, 2011 for the end of the world are at complete odds with another group that has said that the world will end on December 12, 2012. It’s enough to confuse any Christian. But, regardless of what we think of these dates, we must be prepared, all the time – whether for our own death or for the coming of Christ. If either event were to happen today, would you be ready? And probably the better question to ask: how do we prepare ourselves for what comes beyond this life?

Jesus and St. Paul give us two ways of looking at this. The point of the parable of the rich man is that we should become rich in what matters to God, not in what matters to ourselves. Or, as St. Paul writes to the Colossians, we are to seek what is above, not of what is on earth. So what does that mean? With God, love is the most important virtue and the greatest gift. And the same should be true for us. When we love – a true, genuine, selfless love – when we love God or our family, friends and strangers, then we get closer to heaven here on earth. But when we do the opposite of love – when we are ruled by hate or anger, or even by indifference – then we start to separate ourselves from God, and we become less prepared for an eternity in His presence. Another example: in heaven, there’s no such thing as private property or personal possessions. Of course, things are different here on earth. Whenever our personal possessions – our things – identify who we are, we become more and more earthly. But to be rich in what matters to God, we can certainly still have our own possessions, but these things cannot identify us. Instead, we are called to possess generosity, hospitality, compassion – when people identify us based on our virtues, then we are rich in the things of God.

So I don’t really know whether May 21, 2011, will be judgment day – and, frankly, I don’t really care. The key question is not when will Christ come, but how ready will we be. Because the Christian way is to live constantly prepared for Christ’s coming, to seek what is above day by day, to become rich in what matters to God. I imagine most of us aren’t ready – we have some work to do. But with God’s grace, we will be ready to be with Christ in glory, whenever that day comes.