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“God created us for glory, and that is why people become quietly frustrated when they have ignored these mysteries; angst is the neurosis we suffer when we are not listening to the voice of Christ.”

- Fr. George Rutler

Fr. George is writing in his Advent essay about 4 mysteries of life, namely, Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. He sums up perfectly in this quote why we were created, and the danger of not opening ourselves up to the purpose of our creation, and ignoring it. 

Many of us love and desire to be a part of Heaven. Everlasting paradise, no pain or suffering, utter bliss worshiping the Father Almighty and the Son, learning the Truth about what eternity is. What if I told you that every single one of us who is in Christ is a citizen of Heaven already? We are, and our Heavenly Father desires for us to come back home. So why is it that so many people have become disillusioned to this fact. Even to the point of willful denial of the existence of a creator. Often  rejecting the conversation of God, Heaven, Hell, Judgement entirely. Can’t they see that this life reflects an eternal reality? Can’t they see that our actions have temporal consequences in this life? Doesn’t it follow that rebellion against an eternal Father, Creator and Law Giver  would merit consequences on an eternal scale? If people decide to not even talk about eternal things anymore, I’m afraid its not surprising that realizing these mysteries to be true would be utterly shocking for these kinds of people.

What is our purpose? We were made for glory. So to realize this glory of the Kingdom of Heaven that is on offer to us, we look to the Gospel for the key to our purpose. Jesus sums up the Law with His Great commandments, 

Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31)

This is our purpose on earth, to love God by growing in relationship with Him, and living this out daily by loving one another and all people. How should we love one another? Simply put, it is by sacrificing for one another and by speaking only the truth of reality. 

For this “School of Heaven” garment, however, I will focus primarily on the Truth.  To speak only the Truth of reality to one another is one of the ultimate ways to propagate true love in this life. So, let us be honest and true, always, even if it means being persecuted. The truth, as St Thomas Aquinas observes is that which can be known in objective reality - “…for nothing can be known, save what is true; and all that is, is true.” ( The Summa Theologica, 767). What can be derived from this, simply put is that, by sacrificing for one another and by speaking only the truth, which is to say, to speak of the objective reality that comes from knowing who God is, who is love (See the Key to Happiness authentication  where we go in depth about what true love is). To speak things that contradict reality,  or to omit the truth is a disservice to ourselves and to others because it heightens the potential for delusion, and confusion - the main proponents of chaos, violence and loss of identity in the world. 

With that being said, there are 4 Truths that can be known with certainty, even though they are mysterious to us: Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell. These 4 realities are undeniable - some perhaps more than others but undeniable, nonetheless. To some people these realities may even be overwhelming or frightening to think about. I propose, however, in agreement with Fr. George, that these realities only bring anxiety if we do not have a frame of reference for the ultimate Truth that is, Jesus Christ. 

When we do not focus on Jesus Christ, we lose all frame of reference for truth. We also begin to lose a hold of reality and rationale. Jesus came to this earth to teach us how to love The Father and One another, doing so by willingly sacrificing His life. He did this to show us the perfect example of love and to be completely consistent in the Truth; the ultimate Truth that God created us for Glory, life everlasting. He created our souls that will never die, even if our bodies pass away with this life. So, Jesus Christ Rising from the dead, conquering death, as it were, brings us the hope that this life is not the end at all, rather, a preparation for eternal life with the Father!  Conversely, having free will in this life to accept or reject this Truth, implies the ability to forfeit eternal life. We know there is a Hell, only because there is Heaven, and we have free will to reject it.

So, just as we know the more profound mysteries of Heaven and Hell are true, the more we reflect on them, we most certainly know that Death is real and unavoidable as well. The danger of avoiding or omitting the  purpose of our life and the truth, as Fr. George aptly observes, is that we will suffer from a quiet, yet oppressive angst, depression, or confusion that will begin to consume us. 

It is no wonder that many people dread talking about these realities. At the extreme, some may even focus  their entire lives obsessing over prolonging their lives through artificial means falsely believing they could avoid death all together. As if death is something truly to fear. I tell you now with the utmost confidence death is certain but it is not something to be feared at all. Only those who do not know Jesus Christ will be overwhelmed by that thought, which is one of the reasons to spread the Gospel to everyone and anyone you can. The Good News is that death is conquered already, not by any means of our own but by The One who loves us and created us for Glory with Him in paradise. 

These may be mysteries to us yet in this life, but there will be much revealed to us in the “school” of Heaven.