Living in heaven on earth

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Good News ReflectionThursday of the Second Week in LentMarch 12, 2009
Today's Readings:Jeremiah 17:5-10Ps 1:1-4, 6Luke 16:19-31http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/031209.shtmlAudio:http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/09_03_12.mp3
Living in heaven on earth
Hell is not "down" in the middle of the earth, a physical place where bad people and pagans go after death for eternal punishment. Rather, hell is separation from God. And it's not God who separates himself from people. It's we who separate ourselves from him, and it begins while we are still here on earth.
Do you feel (at least sometimes) like you're living in hell on earth? It's not the pains and trials we endure that make our lives hellish. It's the feeling that God is not with us.
The parable in today's Gospel passage shows that it's impossible to rescue anyone from hell after they've died. It also teaches that it's impossible to rescue an alive person who is headed for hell — that is, IF they are not willing to unite themselves to God's love. Jesus points out the lack of repentance in those who reject what God has revealed to them.
Jesus revealed himself as God by becoming one of us and willingly sacrificing himself on the cross to take our punishment for sin upon himself, removing all obstacles between us and God, and then rising from the dead to give us eternal life in God's presence. It's not the people who don't know this who go to hell. It's the people who reject God's love because they don't want to give love.
When someone dies without knowledge of Jesus but they lived in the spirit of Christ by loving others, he or she will want to live forever with him when they meet him on their personal judgment day at the hour of their passing from earth. But those who heard of him and rejected him because they had no desire to give up their unloving ways — they will want to avoid Jesus at the hour of their death. Thus, they decide to separate themselves from God forever.
The question for you and me right now is this: What am I doing today that rejects love? How am I separating myself from God and creating my own hell on earth? We might be 90% in love with God, but it's that other 10% that makes us miserable.
Even when other people's unlovingness ruins our fun, we can rise above the suffering by living in God's embrace. This is why the Lord said in today's first reading: "Cursed are those who trust in human beings and turn their hearts away from me, but blessed are those who trust in me." The message is repeated in today's responsorial Psalm.
What holds you back from being completely loving? Are you trusting in God's love when others fail to love you enough? There's always plenty of evidence, when life is hard, that "proves" we should not trust him, but Jesus' death and resurrection are proof that his love is real. Acting upon that truth by loving others unconditionally is how we bring heaven to earth.
Today's step on the Lenten journey: Take a step closer to heaven by listing the ways you reject love. Let this serve as an eye-opener that motivates you to benefit from the Sacrament of Confession this Lent.
© 2009 by Terry A. ModicaFor PERMISSION to copy any of my reflections, go to:http://gogoodnews.net/DailyReflections/copyrights-DR.htm
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