Heaven is at hand!
Heaven is at hand, for I will die soon. Just a few more years and I shall stand before the gates of heaven. And should I even live a hundred more years, they will pass in no time. How powerfully the thought of heaven should motivate me! This thought moved so many boys and girls to despise the joys and goods of this world, which will pass, so as to attain eternal heaven.
St Bernard had seven brothers. All of them resolved to forsake everything, to join a monastery and to serve God wholly. They had great wealth and wondered what to do with it. They said to each other: “Let us give everything to our youngest brother.” They came to him and told him: “Dear brother, we decided to give all our heritage to you.” He looked at them and said: “How clever you are! You want eternal heaven for yourselves and earthly kingdom for me? I want the kingdom of heaven too! What is the good of wealth?” Finally, after their mother’s death, their father likewise joined a monastery. They really burned with zeal for Christ. They experienced a true spiritual renewal.
The thought of heaven filled many a saint with the fire of zeal, urging them to make the best of the short time and to lay up for themselves treasures in heaven. The thought of heaven awoke the spirit of penitence in many a hermit. A certain worldly person asked a penitent hermit how he could be so cheerful living such a rigid life. He replied: “Look into the corner. Can you see anything?” He said: “I see nothing there.” “But there is something there. A hole in my hut. Through that hole I can see sky-blue heaven. And I think to myself: Just a few more years and I will be in heaven, where there will be an end to all pain. There the eternal joys are in store for me.”
We need to seriously think of heaven which God has prepared for us. The joyful hope of it must kindle my zeal.
Take some time to think: What have I done so far for the sake of heaven? Maybe very little, or almost nothing. And how much I was chasing after a short-lived reward, earthly fame and honour! How much energy I wasted on it!
And so now I want to make the most of every opportunity. Nothing can be hard for me. I shall follow the counsel of Christ: “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” (Mt 6:20)
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