8/9/2019

   Q: When you die, how do you actually get to heaven?
 
Liberty Smith
Marietta
 
   A: This is an outstanding question for we all want to go to heaven, so thank you for asking!
   The short answer is, we go to heaven through God’s gracious mercy and love for each one of us. However, you’re probably looking for a so-called “road map.”
   In our life on earth, we focus on going to heaven through the holiness of our lives, but at our death there is little we can do when we go before the judgment seat of God. We get to heaven through Jesus Christ himself, for he opened the gates of heaven through his passion; namely, his suffering, death, resurrection and ascension to the Father. You see, only a pure soul can enter the kingdom of heaven.
   Jesus Christ is the only “GPS” through which we can get to heaven. Let us live our lives here in this world toward our final destination of heaven itself.
 
   Q: Can good people who practice a different religion still go to heaven?
 
Grace Dutton
St. Clairsville
  
   A: We know the answer to this by praying the universal prayer or the prayers of the faithful at the Good Friday Passion Liturgy. In the petitions, we pray for the entire world and those who have gone before us. We pray not just for the members of the Catholic Church.
   In fact, we know how Jesus Christ opened the gates of heaven for us all and then, of course, we respond to Jesus’ invitation with our very lives.  
   While we celebrate the true nature of the Catholic Church, we must recognize also that we share much of that truth with our brothers and sisters throughout the world of different religious denominations.
   Our responsibility is not simply to ourselves as fellow Catholics, but to the entire world with which God has entrusted us.
   Together let us pray for all our brothers and sisters whom we encounter, that we may enjoy eternal life in heaven with them. 
 
   Q: Why do we pray to Mary when we can go directly to Jesus?
 
Joseph Green
Martins Ferry
 
   A: Mary stood at the foot of the cross of Jesus when he entrusted the church to his mother, which means Mary is our mother as well. Furthermore, we hear in the story of the Annunciation, by the angel Gabriel, that Mary is full of grace and enjoys an honor above all human beings in her relationship to God.
   We believe Mary is the mother of God whose solemnity or feast day we celebrate Aug. 15. This solemnity instructs that Mary was taken up to heaven both body and soul. 
   Furthermore, as God has honored Mary as being the mother of his Son, we also recognize we can pray for the intercession of all the saints, for they enjoy the beatific vision or gaze upon the face of God himself in heaven, whom they assist in their prayers.
   Do we not ask others here in this world to pray for us? How much more can we depend on the prayers of those who are already in heaven, especially Mary, the mother of God?
   Seems to me all the more we should ask for the intercession of Our Lady, the Mother of God to assist us in our lives in this world.
 
   May God bless you and your family in this month of August, the month dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, patroness of our beloved Diocese of Steubenville!