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| St. Bede |
Ephesians 5:9-19
Luke 12:16-21
Do you realize how sad this parable is? The man accumulates all this wealth, so much so that he had to tear down his barns and build new ones to store his wealth. And then, what happens? He dies. Unprepared.
Now, notice, Jesus didn’t say that his soul was lost. You can assume that this man would eventually reach the fullness of heaven. But he has no treasure in heaven.
1300 years ago, there was an English writer, a monk, named Bede. He’s a saint, and the church counts him as one of its Universal Doctors, just like St Basil, St Augustine, and St. Thomas Aquinas.
In his history of the English speaking people, he tells us about a man named Drythhelm. Now Drythhelm had what we today would be called a near-death experience, being shown a vision of the afterlife. He saw hell as a place of thick darkness with a flaming pit. He saw heaven, of course. And he saw two places for those not ready for heaven. One was a beautiful plain, a place for those who lived a good life but were not yet perfect, a place where they could seek that perfection.
Our Ukrainian Catholic Catechism clarifies. “If a person has fallen asleep in God, having repented of all sins, but has not yet achieved spiritual maturity—the fullness of life in Christ—then that person enters the kingdom of God, in the words of St Paul,“as through fire”. After death, such a person is still in need of spiritual healing and cleansing of all stain, in order to dwell ‘in a place of light ... where there is no pain, sorrow, or mourning.’ In the Church, this healing condition of the dead is referred to as purgatory’”. I sometimes call it heaven’s mudroom.
The last part of Drythhelm’s vision was a place of fire and ice, a place which was not hell, but was for those who repented at death, those who were far from perfect, whose suffering would allow them to seek perfection. Is this why Paul wrote to the Philippians to work out our salvation with fear and trembling?
But, some may argue that Paul says that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Think about it, though. Who is the great healer of our souls? Who is the lover of our souls? Our Lord is, of course. The psalmist wrote, "If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I lie down in the place of the dead, there you are."
Think of it like this. If you spend time in the darkness and then go out into the bright sun, what happens? The sun is so bright, and you are so unaccustomed to the brightness, it actually hurts, doesn’t it?
Heaven is like that. We live in a world shrouded in the darkness of sin. And, be honest with yourself. You sin. We all sin. And, sometimes, we have an attachment to that sin. And when we sin, it hurts our souls. We need healing from that hurt, and deliverance from that attachment.
So, let’s look at treasure in heaven. It is freely given by God, but you have to prepare yourself to receive it. Every time you pray, every act of good works you do, every spiritual exercise you do - these things won’t save you. But what they DO is carve out a portion in your soul for the Holy Spirit to fill with God’s grace.
And the more that our souls are filled with God’s grace, the less we need that spiritual healing and cleansing.
Seek out your salvation with fear and trembling.
The Church gives us so many ways to build up treasure. Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. Living the Beatitudes. Studying the faith. Praying the Rosary and the Akathists. The Church encourages us to know and practice the four Cardinal Virtues - Fortitude, Temperance, Prudence, and Justice. And She teaches the three Theological Virtues - Faith, Hope, and Love.
The beauty of it is you don’t have to remember them right now. They’re all in your Hear Me, O Lord prayer book.
I like to think of heavenly treasures as possessing a spiritual energy. When you have a lit candle, and you let your friend light their candle from yours, you share that energy. But you don’t lose any of the flame, do you?
In the same way that you can share a flame, you can share the Spiritual Energy of your treasures. The seventh of the Spiritual Works of Mercy is praying for the living and the dead. When you do that, you’re passing the flame of God’s grace to the one you’re praying for.
Having treasure in heaven makes you spiritually rich. Remember the rich young man? Jesus told him that to gain eternal life, he must give his riches to the poor. So, if you’re rich in Treasure in Heaven, give it away!
But, if you give away heavenly treasures, you won’t lose them, no more than you lose the flame of that candle!
Eastern Catholics don’t talk much about Indulgences, and we don’t have much of a tradition of them. But we still pray for the dead. Praying for the dead predates the time of Jesus, both for Jews then, and Christians now. Despite the medieval abuse of Indulgences, the principle remains. Praying for the dead is an Indulgence.
Put another way, an indulgence is nothing more than giving our spiritual riches away to those in Purgatory, those who can no longer pray for themselves. And isn’t that a great act of charity?
So, my friends, remember….
Purgatory is Real
Treasures in Heaven help us lessen or avoid purgatory
We can share our treasures
Now, go and share your treasure.
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