Passwords & the Pearly Gates

Thursday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time

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Brothers and sisters: Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool, so as to become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God, for it is written: God catches the wise in their own ruses......

I was in the shower the other night, thinking of a topic for a blog post.  Nothing like hot steaming water and fragrant smelling suds to inspire ideas.  The Gospel readings for the past couple of weeks have been way too familiar, so it's been difficult to take a fresh new approach.

Many times I get blog ideas from a single word. For some reason the word password came to mind.  Like most people, I keep up with way too many passwords on a daily basis.  Passwords are required for my work computer, home laptop, smartphone, iPad, and banking/credit card websites.  Of course, I can't forget all of my social media accounts - Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Blogger etc.  Hmmm...I feel a headache coming on and it has the word password overload written all over it!

What if we needed to remember a password in order to get into the pearly gates of heaven?  I think most of us would stand in front of Saint Peter dumbstruck with a look of terror.  We made it this far; we did everything according to God's will; now we need to remember the password?!  Uh oh.....No chance to select the "Forget password?" option from heaven's reservation kiosk!  No secret questions will magically appear verifying our identity.  Certainly we won't be able to simply call heaven's 1-800 number in order to check our account information!  We either made it into heaven or we didn't.  We either lived a good life or a bad one.  If we think about it closely, there's really no need for a password.  Passwords are required to keep sensitive information safe and secure.  We are already safe and secure if (and when) we make it through heaven's gates.  Once those doors are opened to us, all of what was once earthly becomes N/A (Not-Applicable).

We can make all the excuses in the world as to why God isn't important.  We can foolishly believe that life on earth is all about fun and games.  Do whatever we want, when we want and as we want. The student who doesn't turn in his homework makes the excuse that he forgot his user name and password.  When it comes to our Catholic Christian faith, we shouldn't make a similar excuse like "Jesus, I forgot you exist and that the #LoveYourEnemy is actually a valid password!"

Worldly wisdom is often made up me, myself, and I.  It's all about the ego.  We think we are hot stuff if we make a bunch of money, earned a couple of masters degrees and a PhD, and become incredibly successful.  God doesn't really care about any of this.  In his eyes, it's all foolishness.  What really matters is how a person treats others and how well he follows God's will.

The wise person knows his limitations.  He sees that he makes stupid mistakes throughout life.  In his imperfection, he must seek out guidance from the Lord.  Merge his own personal will with God's will.  Let go of the idea that material possessions on earth will somehow give him instant access into the pearly gates of heaven.  Nothing on earth will exist the same in heaven.

Please do not deceive yourself into thinking you have everything under control.  Hand over some control to God and allow him to enrich your life.  Look forward to entering the pearly gates of heaven without a password!

-J.