Is there a Heaven and Hell?
Today’s feast, the last Sunday of the Catholic Liturgical year (Year A), is the feast of Christ the King - a strange title for one who consistently refused to accept this title when he was alive!!! And the central theme that arises from today’s Gospel is that the only criterion by which this ‘king’ would judge us would not be by our ‘religiosity’ or even belief in Jesus, but by our love and care of neighbour.
This belief that our lives will eventually be judged, and that, accordingly, we will enter a new kind of life that will have a direct correspondence to how we have lived our present life, is found in almost all religions - though the understanding of this after-life varies from religion to religion. In Hinduism there is the belief in KARMA, and the popular understanding is that there will be a re-birth into this world in various forms which will be dependent on how one has lived one’s present life, till one reaches the stage of MOKSHA (or “RELEASE”) from the unending cycle or re-birth. In the Semitic religions, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and others, there is a clear belief that there is only one single human life, the one we currently live, and that at the end, based on what one has done in this life, one will be relegated to live in what has been termed ‘Heaven’ or ‘Hell’. There are also many references to these two concepts in the Bible, including in the New Testament and the Koran. And generally these two concepts are understood literally as places where the good and bad are sent respectively.
But such a concept of ‘places’ called Heaven and Hell to which God sends human beings after death are troublesome - at least they ought to be for Christians at least - primarily because Jesus insisted that God is a loving ABBA (Daddy/Pappa) who is eternally forgiving. Now, as a father, I can understand the need to discipline my children, (though, of course, we are still learning what is the best way to do that), but can you imagine me (or you, as a parent) punishing my son or daughter for all eternity, - whatever s/he has done - with absolutely no hope of redemption. I couldn’t even dream of doing that. And yet the common understanding of Hell is that this God who is revealed to be our father, who loves us so much, who asks us to forgive 70 times 7 (which means an infinite number of times), can and will punish us for eternity? Wouldn’t that seem to defy the logic of the very essence of the God Jesus revealed to us?
As for the belief of many Christians that Heaven and Hell are physical places, that understanding seems to be based on the danger that I have shared many times of understanding analogical terms in a literal manner. In actual fact, all of the mainline churches think of Hell and Heaven as representing ‘states of being’, and do not teach that they are physical places. Furthermore, if God is the source of all that exists, then how can there be any ‘place’ where God does not exist - so how can there be a ‘place’ called Hell where God is not present?
Yet the belief in Heaven and Hell persists, and seems to fit in with a sense of justice found not only in all religions, but also within ourselves - for many of us probably feel that it is only just that there should be consequences for human beings (if not in this life, at least in the next) commensurate with whether we have lived our lives caring for others, or harming others. Can we then make some sense of these concepts of Heaven and Hell?
There is a teaching of Aristotle, which was adapted by Will Durant into this pithy statement: “We become what we do”. What this dictum is saying is that our every action, in a sense, moulds our very self, a thought that I have shared in an earlier reflection. To take one example: If I have to choose between following a tedious and possibly unsuccessful procedure or paying a bribe to get something done, I may, for various reasons, choose paying a bribe, telling myself that this is only for this one time. This one action may not make me a dishonest person, but it might make it easier for me to find other reasons why I should/could use bribing as an option a second time when I am faced with a similar choice. And then maybe the third and fourth time I may just use that option without even thinking about it. And without even realising it perhaps, it may become ok for me to pay bribes - of course rationalising it to myself with reasons such as “the system is so bad and I can’t fight the system”, or “everybody does it and what can I do alone”, etc. And gradually this may make it a little easier for me to do other dishonest acts, using similar justifications, with the result that gradually I become quite a dishonest person. As the police chief in the movie Chinatown, said: “Corruption always begins in microscopic proportions”. Ergo, we become what we do. Of course the same thing happens with good acts too. This does not mean that we cannot turn back on a slope that we have chosen to walk, but as we all know it is more difficult the further down and the steeper the slope we are on.
Can we then say that every freely chosen act of ours seems to ‘mark us’ to mould us, to sculpt the kind of person we become? And that this carries on throughout our lives, so that in a sense we are continuously sculpting/creating the person that we are becoming. Keeping this analogy in mind, we could say that throughout our lives we are continuously creating ourselves into becoming more loving, or more hate-filled, persons, - for the Christian continuum is the Love-Hate continuum, and every conscious/chosen act can be placed somewhere along that line.
Keeping that analogy on the side as it were, let us now explore another analogy of a group of people who are confined to a fixed living place (e.g. a bungalow in a spacious compound). They are confined there for life. All their physical needs are taken care of. Now let us assume that one of those living there really cares for all the others, really enjoys their company, and is at complete peace with him/herself and everybody else living there. On the other hand, there is another person in this house too, who just can’t stand the sight of every one of the others staying there, one who is consumed with hate. Wouldn’t it be safe to assume that during the period of their confinement there, the former person would be pretty happy and the latter person pretty miserable?
Now translate both these analogies to the heaven-hell question. If throughout my life, I develop and sculpt myself into becoming a person who is filled with hate, absolute unending hate, with not a shred of love in me, while another person sculpts him/herself into becoming a deeply loving person, then whether in this life or after death, even in the presence of an all-loving God (Abba), I would be in a state of deep agony (in Hell) while the other person would be deeply at peace (Heaven). In such a case being in a state of Hell or a state of Heaven would not be because a loving God put us there, but we ourselves who put ourselves in those different ‘states of being’ through how we have lived our lives - even in the presence of God.
Now, of course most (or can we say “all” ??) of us are not totally and inexorably filled with hate, but are also not so totally filled with love - when we reach the point of death. Hence, according to the Catholic understanding, for those of us who have not reached either end of this love-hate continuum we would have to continue to grow after death and that ‘state’ of continuing to grow after death has been given another analogical term ‘Purgatory’, - simply because such persons are being purged or purified of the ‘hate’ still lurking in their hearts. In other words it is a state of being, where one is purifying one’s hate-filled elements. And that too is a painful process. For we all know how painful it can be to forgive somebody who has hurt us, or to overcome the hate that has built up in us against someone.
Is it possible to change from a hateful person to a loving person? My own answer would be, yes, at all times. As long as there is a shred of love in that person, there is the seed from which the plant of love can grow. In Raskolnikov’s story, it is the compassion and love offered to him by the murdered woman’s half-sister, Sonia, that pulls him through. So, yes, the seed needs to be nurtured and taken care of. But it is possible for it to grow, however small the seed. And if there is someone who truly loves us, like our Abba Father God, then we can be helped to heal - even though we will suffer as we try to heal for we have to overcome the ‘hate’ (the jealousies, the anger, etc) that we have embedded in ourselves by all that we do throughout our lives. It is we ourselves who have to cut out the tumour of hate that fills our selves, with the support and love of others.
Does anybody ever reach that stage of utter hate-filled-ness, where there is no seed even to allow the possibility of love to grow? The Catholic term for this is the state of ‘mortal’ (or ‘deathly’) sin. Personally, I doubt that such a completely love-less and hate-filled life is even possible, - even the worst person cares for someone - but theoretically, perhaps, it could happen. So, while the Catholic Church has declared that some human beings have definitely reached the ‘state of being’ that is called ‘heaven’ (canonisation essentially implies that), it has never declared that any specific person is in Hell. Even the powerful condemnation of the betrayer, Judas, as found in the Gospel, – “better that he were never born” is not to be construed as a ‘proof’ that he is in Hell. In a sense, after his betraying action, Judas was perhaps in so much pain (in ‘hell’ as a state of being) that he could not bear it and so as tradition has it, commits suicide. But like Jesus looks with love at Peter even when he denies him, can we doubt that Jesus continued to look with love at Judas whom he had himself selected to be one of the Apostles? So let us not fear God’s punishment. For as Jesus taught us in the Gospel of Mathew and Luke, consider the birds of the air, who neither sow nor reap, or the lilies of the field which neither toil nor spin. And yet your Father looks after them. So, remember that God cares for us as much or even more than these. The only thing we are called to do is to try to walk the path towards the kind of life that Jesus taught us. We may stumble and fall, and lose our step, but we must get up and try again. That is all that God asks of us.
And so I leave you with this thought:
But within you.
So, do not be fearful,
For as with water,
That always seeks its own
Through every crevice or crack,
Our hearts are not so shuttered
That no ray of love can enter
To seek that little spark of love still struggling,
Trying desperately not to drown in our hearts.
First Reading: Ezekiel 34: 11-12, 15-17
For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep and will sort them out. As shepherds sort out their flocks when they are among scattered sheep, so I will sort out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strays, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice. As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 20-26,28
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human, for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in its own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all.
Gospel: Matthew 25: 31-46
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand,‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and yougave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and yougave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? Andwhen was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answerthem, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand,”‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
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