A Heavenly Lottery:
Prizes Unlimited—All Buyers Win

If one needs a large amount of money in a short time one runs a lottery. To back this statement consider the Princess Margaret Home Lottery, the Canadian National Institute of the Blind, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Ontario Lottery, the casinos, and Calvin Awyer, 47, a Canadian billionaire. Many people cannot refuse to buy a chance of winning a big prize even when the chance of winning is very small.

I think that in teaching our Faith, we should use the lottery technique much more. Christ did so as seen by His two parables: "The Treasure Hidden in the Field" and "The Pearl of Great Price." Also, the apostles used the lottery technique. St. Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians tells his converts all the wonderful results of being converted before he goes into the details of how to win. St. Peter in his epistles does the same.

From my own personal experience, teachers have failed in this respect. As a child I sometimes worried if I was a good Catholic. The reason was I did not want to go to heaven because a Catholic newspaper pictured people in heaven as old people in long nightgowns with wings sitting on clouds playing harps, a life I detested. Also I had a great fear of hell, why?  I remember all of us school children being gathered into the parish church to listen to a missionary priest describe the pains of hell. Hell was a vast underground pit where devils with long spears stoked immense cauldrons of molten iron into which all grave sinners were thrown.

I do not remember any sermons on the joy of heaven. There seemed always to be an unending list of duties from going to Mass on Sunday, Friday abstinence, etc. To eat one hotdog on Friday was a venial sin, to eat two was mortal. I often wondered what was the reaction of the other children. Naturally one cannot live with such ideas. So what is done? One pushes the ideas aside along with what goes with them or one puts them in the realm of horror stories. Just a matter of fantasy told to give the listeners a shot of adrenalin.

I cannot recall any catechism lessons or sermons telling me the joys of life after death. Most dealt with duties, what I must do to be saved. Of course this thinking may be the slant of one person. However, I was educated in a Catholic Elementary school, a Catholic high school and a religious novitiate and scholasticate. I was always one of a group. I would be glad to hear the experiences of other Catholics.

In the heavenly lottery, a person can win marvelous prizes. Also every one who enters wins. It is not one in every 10 who wins, but all win. The cost of a winning ticket is a good life. However when the prize is greatly desired the cost fades away. Witness the competitors in the Olympics. The athletes go through a very demanding training program which often lasts for years, all this to gain a gold or a silver or a bronze medal with all that goes with it. When the desire is great, the cost is willingly paid.

Following are a few of the prizes that all in the heavenly lottery can win.

You come to share in the Divine Glory.—1 Peter 1,4

For our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing this so that our joy may be complete.—1 John 3-4

To the victor I will give the right to eat from the tree of Life that is in the garden of God.—Revelations 2:7

Then God's own peace which is beyond all understanding will stand guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.—Philippians 4:7

Christ will give new form to this holy body of ours and remake it according to the pattern of his glorious body by his power to subject everything to himself.—Philippians 3:20-26

You are no longer a slave but a son. And the fact that you are a son you are an heir by God's design.—Galatians 4:7

They shall not hunger or thirst nor shall the scorching wind or the sun strike them.—Isaias 48:9-10

Then the angel showed me the river of life—giving water, sparkling like crystal flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb, down the middle of its street. On either side of the river grew the tree of life that produces fruit twelve times a year, one each month; the leaves of the trees service as medicine for the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there anymore. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it and each of his servants will worship Him. They will look upon His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. Night will be no more, nor will they need light from lamp or sun, for the Lord God shall give them light and they shall reign forever and ever.—Revelations 22:1

The idea of stressing the importance of the heavenly prizes is basic. St. Peter writes:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading kept in heaven for you who by the power of God are safe guarded through faith to a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the final time.—Peter 1:3-5

Julian of Norwich tells us in "Her Showings" that Christ told her to bear her sufferings lightly because it was His will and to think of the heavenly prizes.

 

By Brother John Coates
La Salle Manor
Toronto, ON