Tuesday in the Fifth Week of Lent

A child asked his father, “Daddy, is it really true there are only three places to go when you die, purgatory, heaven or hell?”  He replied, “Yes, that’s really true.”

 

The Gospel is full of good news.  But it also has some bad news because Jesus speaks the whole truth.  Today’s gospel is bad news for unrepentant sinners.  Jesus says, “Where I am going you cannot come … you will die in your sins. … You will seek me and you will not find me.”  Jesus speaks the truth not to condemn but to try and save the sinner.

When the lay theologian, Frank Sheed, wrote an introduction to Catholic faith, he titled his book “Theology and Sanity.”  He writes that without faith, without belief in what Christ has revealed, we are not living in reality.  We are insane.  A little child who believes that when we die there are only three places we can go, purgatory, heaven or hell, is already a theologian living in the truth, and that is very pleasing to Jesus.