Church of the
Annunciation

Do you have a queue? You do if you have Netflix. I have a queue with Netflix and on my Kindle where I reserve movies and books. Priority: I read the book first then watch the movie. I just added: “Heaven Is for Real.” It the story of Colton Burpo, a 3-year old boy, who after recovering from serious appendix surgery spoke of visiting heaven. At first his parent dismissed the account as coming from the child’s imagination until Colton described events that happened and relatives who had died before he was born.  Todd Burpo, Colton’s dad and a Wesleyan pastor, recorded his son’s reminiscing in “Heaven Is for Real.” It resonates with dreams, visions and out of body experiences recorded in Sacred Scripture and within our Catholic Christian tradition. In the Gospel of John at the last supper Jesus speaks of going to the Father and then coming back to the disciples; assuring his disciples that where I am you also may be. If heaven is love (St. John Paul II) and heaven is a place in God (Pope Benedict), then heaven is both a mystery/reality that awaits us but is also accessible to us now as we remain in Jesus’ love and keep his commandments. We are never left as orphans because Jesus comes and reveals himself to us. Colton’s description of heaven as a family reunion is akin to our communion of saints. We gather today at Eucharist as a heavenly banquet expressing our faith and hope that heaven is for real. St. Peter in the second reading tells us to “always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you a reason for your hope.” Colton Burpo inspires us to do so.