I had a discussion with a coworker about God and Heaven. I was stunned when he told me that he hoped to go to Hell. Shocked, I asked how he could say that. He told me that Heaven didn’t sound fun and most of his fun friends would be in Hell so he wanted to have fun if there were an afterlife.
I attended a class at our parish on Heaven and the Angels. The priest had answered a question on the reality of Purgatory. Someone in the class said, “I guess Purgatory is a step toward Heaven. My goal is to at least get to Purgatory.” I couldn’t hold back my remark. I replied that no one’s goal should be Purgatory. Our one and only goal is Heaven. There is nothing less than that which should be acceptable to us.
Hell, Purgatory, Heaven.
God made us for one goal. As the old Baltimore Catechism says:
Q. Why did God make you?
A. God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him for ever in Heaven.
God did not imagine nor create you to go to Hell nor did He ever have a desire for you to ‘settle” for Purgatory. God the Father sent His Son to give us the recipe and desire to attain Heaven.
““For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” John 3:16
God made it easy to attain the glory of Heaven. Two simple steps – believe in Jesus, that He is God, that God loves you enough to die on the cross – and – trust in Jesus.
We must believe and trust in Jesus and His Divine Mercy. In trust we become like little children and live St. Theres of Lisieux’ Little Way – we blindly throw our hands up to the Father trusting HE will lift us to Heaven.
Neither Hell not Purgatory at fun – read St. Faustina’s diary and accounts of the children of Fatima and every saint who wrote of Hell or Purgatory, they all tell stories of great suffering and pain.
Hell will not be an endless party. It is a place of condemnation of which the greatest punishment is to not have God’s love.
Purgatory is a burning inferno of painful cleansing. Yes, the next step is Heaven but why settle for this fury? Throw your hands up to the Father in total trust and go directly to Heaven. Look up through Jesus’ cross to the Father and boldly say, “I wanna go to Heaven!”