Heaven

Heaven

I was thinking about heaven this morning and what I think It will be like.

The reason I thought about it, is because this is the beginning of the Lenten season. I was raised Catholic, and consider myself Catholic, even though I don’t attend church and I don’t follow a lot of the Church’s teachings. I do like this new Pope. He seems to be more “ Christ-like” than any other Pope I can remember.

Anyway, when I was a kid, my parents sent me to Catechism, which is Saturday school for Catholic kids. You learn about sin and the act of contrition, confessing your sins, stuff like that. One of the things they taught you was you cannot eat meat on Friday during Lent. In general, we didn’t eat meat on Friday when I was growing up. My Dad had been raised Catholic and my Mom followed his tradition.

The lady, I don’t think she was a Nun, who taught us on Saturday, said that if we ate a hamburger on Friday during Lent, we would go to hell. The only way we wouldn’t go to hell is if we truly did not remember that it was Friday and ate the hamburger. But if we knowingly sinned and died, we would go to Hell.

I started religious instruction when I was in the 2^nd grade. I think I was 7 at the time. Do you have any idea what it does to a young mind to think if you sin and die, that you are immediately going to Hell? It leaves a mark! My mom would say that the teacher didn’t mean that, that it wasn’t true, but I think because it was taught to me during those religious instructions ,that I believed it.

Anyway, this morning, I was thinking about Heaven. I have not lived a pious life. I have done my fair share of dirt. Sin has been my friend or more than one occasion. But, I think like everyone else, I have a chance of getting into Heaven.

I think when I die and get to Heaven, there will be a line. And a fence. And next to the Pearly Gates, there will be a fence, just like you see surrounding jails and schools. Chain link, with no barb wire. And I believe you can touch it. And I think when I get to the front of the line, I’ll be told I have some work to do. And that people have vouched for me, like my Mom and my Mama Nell, but that I still have some things to work on. So I’ll have to wait outside the fence. I can see myself walking over to the fence, and finding my Mom and Mama Nell and maybe my Aunt Bernice, and my Uncle John, and others who have gone before me. And I think my Mom will be pragmatic and tell me I need to pay my penance before I can come home. And I will totally understand. And I think I’ll see a friend at the fence, one in particular comes to mind. And I’ll ask him how he’s doing and he’ll say fine. And I’ll tell him I’m hungry and ask him for a hamburger and a coke. And he’ll say “no problem, I’ll be back later”.  And I’ll mill around with all the other people in purgatory, just wandering, not doing anything, thinking about what we could have done better and at some point, I’ll see my friend at the fence, with my burger and coke. Any my Mom will visit me regularly, and it will be like that for a while, until it isn’t..