Yesterday I had a meeting right after work, so Travalon went
to the gardens to get us a margarita pizza. After dinner we debated about
playing tennis, but I had walked a lot that day and was very tired, so instead
we took a boat ride. As we passed by, we heard a band playing at the
Nau-Ti-Gal, all women but the drummer, and they sang in beautiful harmony. We
saw another glorious sunset lighting up the lake, and we returned just as
darkness fell.
Someone I know says Heaven is an eternal Mass, and I told
her that would not be a selling point for most people, who can barely stand a
one-hour Mass. She said, “What could be more wonderful than being in the
Presence of God in the Sacrament?” or something along those lines, but a lot of
people say they actually feel closer to God in nature than during church
services. Then I started to think about it, and everything in a church is
created by people. The stained glass may be gorgeous, and the music may be moving,
but many people are more drawn to things actually created by God. Maybe that is
why I feel more like I am in Heaven going to my garden plot in the evening,
when it is full of birds and butterflies and flowers and laughing children, than
going to church. After all, God created all those things at the gardens, but
people made the stuff in the church.
Who can really say what Heaven will be like? Mark Twain once
wrote a snarky short story about an angel mocking people who say Heaven will be
sitting around and playing harps, since they don’t even like harp music in real
life, so why would they like it in Heaven? This angel said Heaven was actually
one long orgasm, but in his sarcasm Twain stumbled onto something closer to the
truth, since a lot of highly-regarded theologians agree that the physical act
of lovemaking creates a unity between two people that is a reflection of the
unity we will enjoy with God in Heaven. I think you could sell a lot more
people on religion if you said Heaven was like unending sex than if you said it
was like an unending Mass! But that sums up why our evangelization efforts
often fall so flat: we are emphasizing the rules to follow over the joyful
relationship with God. You can see where a lot of people would think, “Why do I
want to go to a boring church service every week just so I can spend eternity
in a boring church service? No thanks, I’ll keep my belief that there is no
afterlife/we become part of everything/Heaven is a big party” or whatever the
average person believes. They have a point, but I do think Heaven is like a big
party AND like becoming one with everything, or at least a lot more like that
than like Mass. I certainly hope there is an afterlife, but I can comprehend the
idea that there isn’t one way more than the idea that there is one for humans
but no other life forms. That idea makes zero sense to me, and it’s probably
losing a lot of those other people too. To quote Will Rogers, “If dogs don’t go
to Heaven, I want to go where they go.” All these hardcore Catholics who are
promoting an idea that we have to follow a bunch of strict rules just to end up
in an eternal church service where there are lots of self-righteous people but
no plants or animals shouldn’t wonder why their religion is losing adherents. I
wouldn’t want to be that religion either, but I don’t think that is really what
the Church teaches. Too bad we aren’t emphasizing the joy of knowing God
instead of people’s opinions about Heaven.
Famous Hat
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