There is nothing wrong with authentically striving for high places. The problem is we often want to skip all the work that must first be involved and jump straight to the top. Our motives can also become disordered towards the worldly pleasures involved instead of authentic reasons which are always in unison with God the creator of all things. For anyone that has ever had to work alongside an unprepared boss or leader we know how quickly everything can get out of control if they are not fully prepared for what they are getting into. Jesus in this parable given to the Pharisees is pointing out the need to authentically strive after high places so that things will not get out of control for us. A high place cannot be sought out in order for us to be exalted and all of us must work hard each day in the harvest of the Lord to achieve the highest honor of all, Heaven. It seems that many people will agree that Heaven is real, but never want to authentically move towards it. Instead we have developed the attitude that when we die we go straight to Heaven no matter what the life we had lived was like.
This simplistic view erases away the complexity of Heaven. Saint Thomas Aquinas states: "Therefore by the gift of grace men can merit glory in such a degree as to be equal to the angels, in each of the angelic grades; and this implies that men are taken up into the order of the angels." These human beings do not then become angels, but remain human as they partake in the beatific vision of Heaven. What we have explained here is the complexity of Heaven and how we should not strive on this earth with the mere hope to get into Heaven because it is what happens to everyone. We should instead realize that our goal in life is to achieve the highest honor possible. We cannot achieve it if we never set out to do any work and prepare our lives for this great honor. We cannot achieve it if we have already placed ourselves foolishly at the head of the table assuming that Heaven will simply be granted to us so easily.
From Sirach we heard: "Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God." The words that we heard from Saint Thomas challenge us to this. They challenge us to see the complexity of salvation, where through our own humility, we will be able to achieve great rewards. The reality of being brought into the choirs of angels as a human should be a great joy for our hearts. This would be a high honor for us, but of course we cannot place ourselves there now. We instead must persevere in the journey of faith by cutting away all that enslaves us in this world from truly coming into union with God. We are all called to high places, but we must prepare ourselves for them instead of arriving with the pride that everything is already owed to us. Our place within Heaven will be attributed to our ability to draw close to God while here on this earth. May we as the poor, crippled, lame, and blind draw ourselves close to God that we may find true richness, be liberated from all that harms us, and have site given to our eyes. The more that we are willing to authentically hand ourselves over to God the greater we will be when we are called to join inside of the beatific vision of Heaven.
We must also remember Purgatory where in the words of Hebrews: "the spirits of the just are made perfect." Purgatory is a path that leads us to the high honor of Heaven. Due to sin and everything that keeps us enslaved we will need to be made perfect. We can of course work towards this perfection while here on earth, but upon our death will enter into Purgatory that we may be able to totally be made clean. The souls that find themselves inside Purgatory are here that over time they will be able to work their way towards a higher position by doing away with each element in their existence that blocks their ability to truly be able to behold God. While on this earth may we never forget to pray for these souls and may we begin to purge ourselves now from all that separates us from God.
Now is the time for us to work hard in the harvest of the Lord. We cannot wait any longer because we do not know how much time we have left. We must begin to make every effort in this life to draw ourselves towards Heaven instead of falsely believing that nothing is required of us because we have already been granted that high seat at the table of the Lord. Instead of being filled with this pride may we begin to humbly draw ourselves towards Christ. In this humble relationship of lowering ourselves to Christ we can begin to achieve higher places. We can begin to love God in a more complex way to where maybe we can in time be venerated as a saint. We should make every effort on this earth to avoid or to lessen our time inside of Purgatory instead of joking the reality of Purgatory away. We should not have the audacity to place ourselves at such a high honor as Heaven, but instead should work faithfully each day to achieve this honor, so that we will hear from Christ: "My friend, move up to a higher position."
No comments:
Post a Comment