See you in heaven!

THE STORY is told about a wife who, upon her arrival in heaven, was surprised to see her husband walking around with another woman. She walked up to him and started berating him, upon which he replied "oops, oops, wait a minute. We promised to love each other 'till death do us part,' remember?"

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The Gospel today (Lk. 20, 27-38) speaks about what it will be like in the next life: No more marriage, people will not die, they will be like angels. The bottom line is that there is life after death, and the God we will meet will be a living and personal God. He will be all that will matter. Oh yes, we will retain our relationships and fulfill all our personal longings, but these will be nothing compared to the joy that we will experience in meeting Him.

All that mattered to us in this life will still matter, but our focus then will be Him and Him alone, more than anyone or anything else. Yes, see you there. That would be nice. But, we, together, seeing Him there, that would be really nice!

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I miss my father. He died in 1987, and I hope to see him in heaven someday. I hope to see, too, my friends like Nicanor Jimenez, Sonny Sison, Ernesto Michael, Sr. Idmara, Fr. Leisring and those people who have loved me and whom I have loved all these years. Wow! What a meeting that would be.

But our joy of meeting each other will be surpassed and encompassed by our meeting together the Lord who has been so good to us in our lifetime. Indeed, no eye has seen, no mind has imagined the beauty and the joy that await those who have loved God!

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I go back to the experience of Art Romero who had a heart attack some two months ago and survived to tell that, at the point of death, nothing and no one really matters anymore except God. Art said that at that point pala, the main focus is meeting the Creator.

Worldly attachments and worldly relationships slowly fade into the background. Yes, they are there, but they are nothing anymore compared to the Being one is about to encounter.

In one single moment, Art realized that the single, most important concern at the point of death is God, His love and how you have loved Him. Is God, at all, a part and a concern in the life you are living right now? Our worldly concerns are valid concerns, yes, but remember, they are not, and they will not be the most important at the moment we bid this world adieu.

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More and more I realize that over and above functions, it is a relationship that God asks of us. We often say "walang personalan, trabaho lang (nothing personal, it's just a job)." That is how it is often with us, but with the Lord, that is not so. Our God is a very personal God (three persons, in fact!). He asks from each one of us a very personal and intimate relationship. Amid all your worldly responsibilities, mission, concerns and functions, do you have a personal relationship with God?

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For those who are overly concerned with their loved ones (almost making them their God!), please remember that they are God's more than they are yours, and that you belong to God more than to any of them. Remember, too, that God loves them more than you can ever love them, and that God loves you more than any of them can. Do not be possessive of your loved ones. Neither should you think that you are indispensable to them. Hey, there's someone greater than you and I. Don't forget that!

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For those who think that life is one big work or, perhaps, one big struggle, has it ever occurred to you that life is one big surrender? Again, let us not think of ourselves bigger than who we really are. There is someone greater than you and I. The sooner you learn this, the better.

Just recently, I was talking with an elderly man who, in the twilight years of his life, is still burdened by material concerns. It is sad that along with his accumulated wealth, he has also accumulated much heartaches and quarrels with his very own family.

This is a clear case of a person who seems to have forgotten that life on earth is fleeting and that we carry nothing with us when we leave this world. He has become a slave of money. He has forgotten to see the heavenly horizon because he has set his eyes on the world and its empty, fleeting pleasures.

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According to the latest report and statistics I get from heaven, married people will be the first to enter the kingdom of heaven! Congratulations! Why? That's because many of them have been through hell already in this world!
Well, come to think of it: Do we have to make life unhappy for people especially our loved ones? Do we have to hurt, cheat, malign, put down, rob and manipulate others just so that we have an easy, comfortable life? Remember, whatever you do to others, you do it unto the Lord. Want to see the Lord in heaven someday? See Him now in your brothers and sisters.

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A moment with the Lord:

Lord, help me to see you now in my brothers and sisters so that I may see you someday in heaven. Amen.