Archbishop of Sydney

Last Things

By + George Pell
ARCHBISHOP OF SYDNEY
3 November 2002

He had been a heavy drinker earlier on in life, but with a struggle had managed to give it up. He pretended to some mild regret now that he was facing death. "If I'd known a was going to die young," he said, "I wouldn't have gone off the booze."

It was the other part of his response that most interested me, however. He said he had never thought much about life after death, and now was obviously the time to make good on that. He decided to meditate regularly on the last book of the bible, the strange and wonderful Apocalypse of St John.

Many Australians could understand someone pretending to regret that they gave up the drink. But a think many, even those not particularly interested in religion, might be surprised that a priest had not given much thought to the nature of life after death. On a human level, however, we can all relate to his preference for dodging the issue.

Death is a great mystery. Most Australians continue to believe in life after death, but after that the disagreements begin.

In ages past many people wondered whether they would be saved, would continue happily in existence after death. In the gospels, a rich young man approached Jesus and asked what he must do to get into heaven. Jesus told him that he should keep all the commandments. However if he wanted to be perfect, he should sell everything he had and give all the money to the poor.

It was not exactly an encouraging answer. If this is what you have to do to get to heaven, some of those who were listening asked, will anyone be saved? It might seem impossible to us, Jesus replied, but nothing is impossible for God.

This highlights one of the fundamental points that Christians believe. God is not a capricious being deliberately setting the bar so high that no one can be saved. He expects things of us, but above all else he is loving, merciful and just.

No one will be condemned for ignorance or innocent mistakes. We will not be punished for our weaknesses and failings when we are truly sorry for them and genuine in our resolve to do better. God can truly judge the human heart in every situation, something very few of us can do accurately.

While people are happy to accept that there might be a heaven, hell is a different matter. Even some Christians profess not to believe in hell, seeing it as a inconsistent with God's love.

But part of the promise of life after death is that the injustices suffered in this world will be put to rights in the next. God's mercy and love are infinite, and so it is not impossible that no one actually makes it to hell, although there are some who will certainly require some heavy-duty dry-cleaning before they get in the pearly gates.

One day a was discussing heaven and hell with a Year a class. One of the youngsters put the difference between these destinations in the form of a riddle. He suggested that both heaven and hell are great feasts where you can only eat with spoons three metres long, held at the end of the handle. The difference between them is that in hell people insist on feeding themselves and so get nothing, while in heaven, people feed each other and get all that they want.

This simple story makes a serious point. How we choose to live in this life will be how we have to live in the next. The logic of selfishness and the logic of love continue beyond this world into eternity.