Father Murphy walks into a pub says to the first man he meets, "Do you want to go to heaven?" The man says, "I do Father." The priest says, "Then stand over there against the wall." Then the priest asks the second man, "Do you want to go to heaven?" "Certainly, Father," he replies. "Then stand over there against the wall," says the priest.
Then Father Murphy walks up to O'Toole and says, "Do you want to go to heaven?"
O'Toole says, "No, I don't Father." The priest says, "I don't believe this. You mean to tell me that when you die you don't want to go to heaven?" O'Toole says, "Oh, when I die, yes. I thought you were getting a group together to go right now."
If I were to start a religion today I would call it the November Saints, and perhaps subtitle it the "Later Day Saints". Metaphorically it has a nice ring to it. Before the December time of our lives we should become saints and worthy of heaven. But, like O'Toole, I fear many of us don't really want to go to heaven today.
November calls us to celebrate sainthood! All Saints Day begins this last month before Advent and Christmas. Everyone notices this idea of sainthood because of Halloween, but not everyone "notices" it.
On earth we celebrate with candy and liturgies. Hope is the keyword as we celebrate All Soul's Day November 2nd, remembering those who have gone before us. We are called to be saints even before we die. One author compares it to a race where the stands are filled with all the saints who are cheering us on as we partake in this great race of life.
How do we keep running to win? Simply by loving as Christ teaches us and the Spirit inspires us. The saints cheer us on even though, "Our days are like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more" (Psalm103).
What fills us with joy and hope is the knowledge that we "dwell in the house of the Lord" already in this world. We do not wait until this earthly life ends before we join in communion with the saints and Jesus.
Heaven begins on earth. Love for each other begins on earth. After we die, we already know about loving each other and belonging to the family and community of Jesus in the church. It doesn't get better than that.
The aches and pains we wake up with in the morning, the troubles and trials we go through during the day, these are a reminder of where we are going. These we offer generously in prayer for our salvation and the salvation of others. Then we fix our eyes on that place where there will be no tears and no pain.
