Philippine Asian News Today Vol 19 No 20 | Page 25

October 16 - 31, 2017
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY
25
Pope: Heaven isn’t a ‘fairy
tale’ – it’s an embrace
with God
Vatican City - Pope
Francis on Wednesday
spoke about the hope
Christians have at the end of
life, which is found in God’s
promise to be with us at the
moment of our death, and
to give us eternal life with
him in heaven.
“Paradise is not a fairy
tale, nor is it an enchanted
garden. Paradise is an
embrace with God, (who is)
infinite Love, and we enter
thanks to Jesus, who died
on the cross for us,” the
Pope said Oct. 25.
“Where
there
is
Jesus, there is mercy
and happiness; without
Him there is the cold
and darkness,” he said,
explaining that at the hour of
death, “the Christian repeats
to Jesus: ‘Remember me.’
And even if there is no one
who remembers us, Jesus
is there, beside us.”
Pope Francis spoke
to pilgrims during his
general audience, which he
announced would conclude
his year-long catechesis
on Christian hope. He
dedicated his address to a
reflection on heaven, which
is the ultimate “goal of our
hope.”
He recalled, for example,
the scene at Calvary, when
Jesus was hanging on
the cross between two
criminals, and one, whom
we call the “good thief,”
had the courage to make
the most humble request:
“Remember me when you
enter into your kingdom.”
The thief didn’t have
good deeds to bring before
the Lord, but he relied
on the mercy of Jesus,
recognizing that Jesus was
“innocent, good, and so
different from him,” the
Pope said.
“That word of humble
repentance was enough to
touch the heart of Jesus,”
the Pope said, noting that
Jesus’ response – “today
you will be with me in
paradise” – is the only
time the word “paradise”
appears in the Gospels.
In this episode, “the good
thief reminds us of our true
condition before God: that
we are His children, that He
has compassion for us, that
He is disarmed every time
we show him the nostalgia
of his love.”
Pope Francis said that
Jesus’ words of hope to the
good thief
also give us
hope for the
end of our
own lives.
E v e n
w h e n
someone
is on their
deathbed
and makes
a
final
examination of conscience
only to realize how
many opportunities for
good works they have
missed, “they must not
be discouraged, but trust
in the mercy of God,” he
said.
There is no person,
no matter how bad, that
cannot receive the grace
of God, he said, adding
that Jesus “wants to bring
us to the most beautiful
place that exists. He wants
to bring us there with the
little or great good that has
been in our lives, because
nothing is lost” that has
been redeemed by him.
Jesus will carry everything
still in need of redemption
to his father, Pope Francis
said, including the faults
and mistakes of an entire
life, because “this is the goal of our existence: that
everything is done and
transformed into love.”
If we believe this, we
don’t have to fear death,
but can instead repeat the
words of Simeon, who
finally meets Jesus after
a lifetime of waiting, and
says: “Now, Master, you
may let your servant go in
peace, according to your
word, for my eyes have
seen your salvation.”
“And at that moment, at
last, we will no longer need
anything, we will not see
in a vague way,” he said.
“We will no longer weep
unnecessarily,
because
everything has passed;
even prophecies, even
knowledge. But love no,
that remains. Because ‘love
has no end’.”
At the end of the audience,
the Pope reminded those present that the month of
O