Too Much Heaven

Balancing the best of both worlds, heaven and earth

04/02/2017

John 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33B-45 The sisters of Lazarus sent word to Jesus, saying, "Master, the one you love is ill." When Jesus heard this he said, "This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it." Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was. Then after this he said to his disciples,  "Let us go back to Judea." He became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Sir, come and see." And Jesus wept. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him." But some of them said, "Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?"

          Is it possible to think too much about heaven? There’s an old saying that warns: “Don’t be so heavenly-minded that you’re no earthly good.” That is, don’t have your head so high in the clouds of heaven that you don’t see where you’re walking on earth, because you might trip and fall on your face. I find myself guilty of this more and more lately, thinking about heaven. Ever since my nephew, Noah, died, I’ve wondered where he is and what he’s doing. Is he out of the fires of Purgatory and now running down the golden streets of Paradise? I’ve done a lot of funerals since arriving in Fort Smith, and the latest one was Friday, for dear Janie Mask. After each funeral I tell Isabelle, our sacristan, “Well, we’ve sent someone else home to heaven. Heck, I’ve even written a book about heaven called, Oh, for Heaven’s Sake. Maybe I think too much about heaven.

          One day a cleric found himself wondering whether there were any golf courses in heaven. He even began to ask the question in his prayers. Then suddenly, in answer to his prayers, he received a direct answer from on high. “Yes,” said the heavenly Messenger. “There are many excellent golf courses in heaven. The greens are always in first class condition, the weather is always perfect and you always get to play with the very nicest people.” “Oh, thank you,” replied the cleric, “That’s really marvelous news!” “Yes, isn’t it,” answered the Messenger. “And we’ve got you down for a foursome next Saturday.”  Don’t think about heaven too much or you might end up there sooner than you suppose.

          Most of us, however, have the opposite problem: we’re so earthly-minded that we’re no heavenly good. We spend our time, talent and treasure on trying to create heaven here that we all but forget the here-after. We’ll give God one hour a week at Mass to hear about the business of heaven, but we dedicate the remainder of the week for the business of earth. But the ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, taught that “in medio stat virtus,” or “virtue stands in the middle of two extremes.” In other words, don’t think too much about either heaven or earth, but rather, bring them both into a beautiful balance, the best of both worlds.

          In the gospel of John we see that Jesus is the perfect balance of both heaven and earth – he thinks about both all the time – and this is highlighted in the miracle of the raising of Lazarus. As I read the story of Lazarus, two gestures by Jesus jumped off the page and sort of slapped me in the face. I bet you noticed them, too. The first gesture was Jesus’ reaction upon hearing Lazarus was sick and on the verge of death. John records: “So when Jesus heard that Lazarus was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was.” What?? Instead of rushing back to Bethany to save Lazarus, Jesus stays put, and let’s him die, explaining this is “for the glory of God.” Clearly, Jesus is “so heavenly-minded that he’s no earthly good.” The second gesture is very famous and encapsulated in the shortest sentence in the Scriptures, John 11:35 (which is so short that even a Catholic could memorize it!), containing just two words, “Jesus wept.” Jesus is moved to tears by the sadness of the Lazarus death (even though he’s about to raise him to life). Jesus was not insensitive to the pain and anguish of loss and death. In other words, Jesus was earthly-minded, too, he was human, he suffered and wept. You see, Jesus entered into the depths of the human drama without losing a drop of his divinity: Jesus remembered heaven without forgetting earth.

          My friends, this is the balance that every Christian must strike just like our Master did, that is, we must master being heavenly-minded without losing our love for earth. We have to have one foot in heaven and the other foot on earth. Let me suggest how we can do this in terms of time, talent and treasure. First, your time. Do you bring some heavenly good into your earthly time? For instance, when you’re on vacation, do you forget your Christian vocation to attend Mass? Heck, there’s even a Catholic church in Las Vegas, and you can even drop your poker chips into the collection plate! Yes, we all need to take a vacation, but not at the expense of our Christian vocation.  I love receiving pictures from parishioners from churches they attend while on vacation, with the caption, “See, we made it to Mass!”  Inject a little eternity into your time.  Balance both.

          Secondly, your talent. God has created every person with some special gifts, talents and abilities. Don’t use your abilities only for earthly success, but also for heavenly success, that is, for holiness. Recently, several priests participated in the Quiz Bowl competition at Trinity. A lady noticed Fr. Stephen Gadberry, a newly ordained priest, seated next to me and asked, “Who was that priest next to you? He was handsome! I wouldn’t mind going to confession to him!” I said, “Thanks a lot.” Being beautiful or handsome is also a gift from God; why not use it for a holy purpose like being a priest, instead of getting on the cover of GQ Magazine? Did you know that the actor Tom Cruise was in the seminary to become a priest? Confession lines would stretch all the way down Garrison Avenue of he were the pastor.  Talk about the best of both worlds.

          And thirdly, which is always the hardest, your treasure. I read an article lately that no other country in the world is as generous in giving to charity as the United States. And this stands in sharp contrast to China, a Communist country.  It said: “Beijing, has become the ‘Billionaire Capitol of the World,’ with 100 billionaires, five more than New York City.” But how does the Communist country help the poor? The article continued: “Charitable giving in China is lagging far behind the U.S. In 2014 giving as a percentage of China’s GDP was only .1 percent, compared to two percent in the U.S.” (Why giving is harder than earning: philanthropy in China,” China Research Center, January 3, 2017). As a Christian nation we gladly give our earthly treasure in exchange for heavenly riches, thereby balancing both worlds.

          Let me conclude with a quotation by C. S. Lewis, who wrote: “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought the most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this” (Mere Christianity, 134).  Maybe I don’t think too much about heaven.

          Praised be Jesus Christ!