The only tragedy is not to enter heaven
Published Nov 1, 2025 12:05 am
WORD ALIVE
A lady told a friend: “When I die, I want my remains cremated and my ashes scattered at the mall.”
The friend was aghast and asked: “Ashes at the mall! Isn’t that weird? Why did you say that?”
The lady replied: “Well, it’s because my children frequent the mall but seldom visit our cemetery.”
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On All Saints and All Souls days, we commemorate the feasts to remind us of our obligation to remember our departed loved ones.
It’s noted, however, that we’re veering away from the original idea of celebrating All Saints’ Day.
Our celebration’s focus is more on worldly, if not commercial, rather than the spiritual and other-worldly.
Think of the Halloween parties, Halloween sales, “Trick or Treat,” ghosts, vampires and witch characters pervading our celebrations. Others indulge in partying and worse, gambling.
We tend to forget to pray for our departed loved ones and ponder on such things as our own death and becoming a saint.
“On becoming a saint,” when you tell that to somebody, chances are he or she will snicker and say, “To be a saint? That’s not for me. I’m too worldly for that.”
But the truth is our all-important goal is, and should be, to become a saint. In short, to attain eternal heaven.
If you don’t aspire for that, where will you go in the next life—in the smoking area (hell) or the non-smoking (heaven)? The French novelist Leon Bloy rightly said: “The only tragedy in life is not to be a saint.”
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Existence of purgatory. The belief in purgatory, which some non-Catholics don’t have, says that those who die in friendship and grace with God but who are not perfectly purified are detained and “purged” there. Hence, the term “purgatory.”
This Catholic teaching on purgatory has sound biblical basis. In 2 Maccabees 12, we read of Judas (not the Iscariot) the act of collecting money to provide a sin offering for his fallen men.
"He made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sins" (2 Macc 12, 45). St. John writes, "Every kind of wrongdoing is sin, but not all sin is deadly (1 Jn 5,17).
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Reason and common sense also demand belief in the existence of purgatory. Stealing ₱500 from a rich man is not as serious as stealing ₱3 million from him. Likewise, stealing P100 from an ordinary teacher is not as grave as stealing ₱20,000 from her.
* * *
So, the questions we should ask ourselves now and then amidst our work, recreation, and other worldly concerns, are: When death comes, are we prepared to meet our Creator? Have we done enough good works to merit eternal life? Are we living in sin?
Only we can answer before God.
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The lighter side. A group of friends wanted to know if there was basketball in heaven. They agreed that whoever died first should come back to inform them.
Dado died first. One night, Rodel heard something like the voice of Dado.
Rodel blurted out: Are you the one, Dado? Yes. Rodel: Okay, tell me: Is there basketball in heaven?
Dado: Yes, but I have good and bad news for you. The good news is there is basketball in heaven. The bad news? You will join us in the game tomorrow!
Lesson: We should not be afraid to die (or play basketball or do others) if we are not prepared spiritually.