(Seventh Sunday of Easter (C): This homily was given on May 24, 1998 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I. by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Acts 7: 54- 8:1.)

"Am I ready for heaven?"

Am I ready for heaven? A rather important question, I would say, since we all hope to get there at some point in the future. Am I ready for heaven?—which is not the same as asking "Is heaven ready for me?"—that’s another issue entirely. Some, for example, might be of the opinion that heaven will never be ready for someone like Fr. Ray. That may be true, but that will not be the subject of this homily! "Am I ready for heaven" means: "If I died today, would I be ready to enter God’s eternal kingdom immediately—like St. Stephen was?" Today’s first reading from Acts 7 tells the famous story of Stephen’s martyrdom. Stephen has just professed his faith in Jesus before the Jewish Sanhedrin; then he sees a vision of Jesus standing at the right hand of God the Father. Not surprisingly, when they’re told what he sees, the Jewish authorities immediately "freak out." To them, this was blasphemous talk; which is why they quickly drag Stephen out of the city and begin to stone him. At that point in his telling of the story St. Luke mentions that one of those taking part in the execution was a man named Saul of Tarsus—the future St. Paul. He stood guard over the cloaks of the people who threw the rocks at Stephen. That, of course, made Saul a willing accomplice to the murder of the Church’s first martyr.

But what I’d like to focus your attention on this morning (afternoon) is the amazing reaction of Stephen himself. Here was a man who--from a purely human perspective--had every reason to be angry and bitter and hateful. He was being executed, although he was completely innocent. And yet, Scripture tells us that as he was dying, he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them."

That, my brothers and sisters, is why Stephen was ready to enter God’s kingdom immediately after death: not only was his soul free of mortal sin—HIS HEART WAS ALSO FREE OF EVERY SINFUL ATTITUDE! You see--if he had died with even a little bit of anger within him, he would NOT have been ready for heaven. If he had died with even a little bit of resentment or bitterness or unforgiveness or lust or pride or selfishness within him, he would NOT have been ready for heaven. But, from all external indications, his heart was free of those (and all other) sinful attitudes, so there was no need for even a brief stopover in purgatory.

This reminds us of an important truth: to be ready for heaven, it’s not enough to be in the state of grace! It’s necessary, but it’s not sufficient! To be in the state of grace (of course) means to be free of mortal sin. And yes, that’s a definite prerequisite for entering God’s eternal kingdom. But, even if we’re in the state of grace, we also need to be free of every sinful attitude—like Stephen was. Because there’s no room in heaven for ANYTHING evil! As the Book of Revelation tells us, "Nothing profane shall enter [heaven]." (Rev. 21: 27) This is something that some people apparently are not aware of. For example, a couple of weeks ago I read an article in the paper about a woman whose husband was murdered several years ago. The man who committed the crime apparently died recently, and this woman was telling the reporter about all the terrible things she hoped her husband would do to his murderer in the afterlife. Now, I’m sure that this woman hopes that her husband is in heaven—and yet she also seems to believe that her husband still has anger and hate in his heart! Well, let’s be clear about it—that’s not the way it is in heaven! That’s the way it is in hell, but not in God’s eternal kingdom.

In the Letter to the Hebrews it says, "Strive for that holiness, without which no one can see the Lord." To be ready for heaven, we must be in the state of grace--and we must be purified of all venial sin and all attachment to sin. Here we see one of the biggest reasons why we should go to Confession on a regular basis. The Church teaches that the only time we must go to Confession is when we have mortal sin on our souls. But--if we’re really serious about reaching the level of holiness we need to reach in order to enter heaven immediately after death, then we will certainly want to go more frequently than once a year. Some people wonder why the great saints went to Confession so often: it’s because they not only wanted to avoid hell—they also wanted to avoid purgatory if possible. They loved God so much that they didn’t want to be delayed in seeing him face to face after death.

When I was preparing this homily—I’ll be honest with you--I couldn’t help but think of Monsignor Struck. Monsignor had such a great awareness of all this. That’s why he would always say that he just hoped he could squeeze through a crack in the back door of purgatory! He was an extremely holy man, but, like all saintly people, he had a deep awareness of his own imperfection, as well as a deep awareness of the perfect holiness of God and the incredible glory of the Lord’s kingdom. (Personally, I don’t think he had any trouble getting in the back door or the front door. In fact, in my opinion he could easily have bypassed the place altogether!)

Let me close today by reading to you part of a meditation that was written many years ago by one of the canonized saints of the Church. It gives us a little insight into the wonderful life we all hope to experience someday in heaven, and it helps us to see why Stephen and Paul were both ready for heaven when they left this life:

Now, at last, Paul rejoices with Stephen, with Stephen he delights in the glory of Christ, with Stephen he exults, with Stephen he reigns. Stephen went first, slain by the stones thrown by Paul, but Paul followed after, helped by the prayer of Stephen. This, surely, is the true life, my brothers, a life in which Paul feels no shame because of Stephen’s death, and Stephen delights in Paul’s companionship, for love fills them both with joy. It was Stephen’s love that prevailed over the cruelty of the mob, and it was Paul’s love that covered the multitude of his sins; it was love that won for both of them the kingdom of heaven. (St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, bishop)