Archive for January 30th, 2022

Love Never Passes 1-30-2022

Sunday, January 30th, 2022

The story goes that one time a very prominent person in California
died. He stood before the beautiful gates of heaven, hoping to get in, but
a large angel stood at the gate and would not let him pass. “To get in,”
said the angel, “you must show that you accomplished something
significant, something really important in your life on earth.”
The man breathed a sigh of relief, because he had accomplished
many things. “Well,” he said, “I feel I accomplished a lot. For one
thing, I went to school and got excellent grades. After high school I
went to the university on a scholarship, and all the teachers admired my
work. I ended up graduating with highest honors, and writing a book.”
“That’s nice,” said the angel, “but I’m talking about a significant
accomplishment. One that doesn’t pass away with time.”
The man was a little shaken, but not really frightened. He had
done many other things. “Well, while I was in college, I played soccer.
I was probably the best player that school ever had. I got to play in the
Olympics and our team all won gold medals.” “That’s nice,” said the angel, “but I need to know if you
accomplished anything significant in you life – something that doesn’t
pass away with time.”
The man began to perspire a little bit. “Well, holy angel,” he said,
“I was blessed with good looks. I was very handsome, and had my pick
of all the women in the world. Finally I ended up marrying a movie star.
All the magazines and newspapers reported how beautiful our wedding
ceremony was.
The angel tried to hide a little yawn. “How nice,” the angel said,
“but did you do anything in life that was really important – something
that wouldn’t pass?”
The man was now getting frightened. “Well,” he said, “after I was
done with school, I started my own engineering and construction
company. We built great bridges. We built mighty freeways. We built
tall sky-scrapers. I made millions of dollars and lived in a palace. They
even named a town after me.” The angel shrugged. “I’m very sorry,” the angel replied. “All
those things you’ve mentioned are nice, and perhaps even interesting…
but they’re not important. They’re not what you need to get into heaven.
They all pass away.”
And then the man remembered the reading form St. Paul, that we
had today. Faith, hope and especially love, never pass away. And he
looked back at his life, and it all seemed so different now. All those
accomplishments he had thought were so important now seemed not so
important. He felt confused and ashamed. “Well,” he said, “once, a
long time ago, I gave an apple to a young girl who had nothing to eat.”
“At last!” The angel smiled, “something really significant. You
wasted most of your life, but thank God you didn’t waste all of it! You
did accomplished one important thing. Enter the kingdom of God!
Brothers and sisters, let’s not waste our time and energy on earth,
but let’s devote ourselves to doing things that last.
Remember, love never passes away