How to ‘steal’ heaven

Recently, a friend of mine went to a cemetery to put flowers on her husband’s grave. She pulled her car to the side of the road, placed the flowers on his grave, prayed for a few minutes and then returned to her car.

As she tried to drive away, the car would not move. It had rained just the day before, and her tire was spinning in the mud. She was alone in this huge cemetery. It was almost time for it to close, and for someone to lock the gate. Most of us have seen enough scary movies to sense that we really don’t want to spend the night in a cemetery. True, we will all spend lots of nights in a cemetery at some future time, but most of us don’t want an early start.

Fortunately, my friend had her cell phone. First, she called her daughter, then AAA road service. Her daughter and son-in-law arrived first, and minutes later the AAA truck. The technician was able to pull her car out of the mud. Her night had a happy ending.

The more I thought about my friend’s story, however, the more I realized how her experience hints at everyone’s future. No, we will not all get stuck in a cemetery, but most of us will be buried in one.

And one day – who knows how many days, years or centuries – we will be called out of the grave. “I am going to open your graves; I will make you come up out of your graves, my people” (Ez 37:12). Whether it will be a trumpet blast or a commanding voice, we will indeed come out of our graves, and appear before our God. And we will be pulled out of our graves not by a tow truck, but by the power of God. And yes, we will again see our families and friends and loved ones.

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:55) On the day of resurrection, death will die and we will live.

Yes, there is some fear in facing judgment. But remember the “good thief ” on the cross, who asked, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Lk 23:42). He’s called the good thief, because he even stole heaven.

And you and I can “steal” heaven, too, by returning to the practice of our faith, going to church, receiving the sacraments, reading Scripture, and talking to God throughout the day in formal or informal prayers.

Or, to put in another way, I’d like to quote a line that I first heard many decades ago from Monsignor Ed Miller: “Whenever I pass a church, I stop in to make a visit, so when they roll me down the aisle, the Lord won’t ask: ‘Who is it?’ ”

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