Something to Ponder On...

Last Wednesday, our choir had been invited to sing for a necrological mass. I was touched by the sermon of the priest. I'll try to tell you the same story as how I remember it...

One day, a lay minister died, ascended to purgatory and met St. Peter. As the saint scanned his computer (yes, St. Peter uses a computer for his database) to check how well did the lay minister do while on Earth, he discovered that the lay minister did many good things and some bad. St. Peter said, "Ok, ok, I can't decide whether to give you the keys to heaven or let you stay in the fire underneath. So I'll be giving you a spelling test. If you spell this word correctly, you pass the test. Here it goes... spell "LOVE."

The lay minister answered, "Oh, that's very easy! LOVE, L-O-V-E, Love." "Oh well... you're correct. You may now enter the gate of heavens."

The next day, St. Peter decided to go for an out-of-purgatory vacation. He chose the lay minister to replace him as the guardian of heaven's gate. Then came the next soul. It's the lay minister's wife. "Oh, darling, you're here! Let me check if you did well on Earth."

The lay minister went on with the list. "Darling, you did great when you were still alive but you also did some sins, most of them I don't know." Upon realizing the secrets of his wife, he also gave her a spelling test, a harder one."

"Spell CZECHOSLOVAKIA." The wife was stunned and said, "Darling, I don't know that. You made this test very hard for me."

"Then, you can't be with me in heaven..." the lay minister said.

The moral of the story is "God always makes things easy for us. He helps us in our trials and leads us to His kingdom. But we, humans, always make things difficult for others. We keep on pulling each other down and making others' lives miserable."

Who are we to judge other people when we, ourselves, are also imperfect?