“Letters from Canada 27 – Love & Heaven” August 2017
Susan’s bold and direct queries caught me off guard but I was prepared to respond. It so happens that for weeks prior to this talk, I internally wrestled with my feelings for Susan and once again faced what is to become of our relationship. Turning to God for guidance, God came to the rescue with inspirational flashbacks to the teachings of
Plato (~427 to 347 BC) and St. Augustine (354 to 430 AD).
Plato had two problems with the Human condition. Evil and mortality. For Plato, people and nature are responsible for the evil and corruption on Earth. In Plato’s world, every living thing eventually suffers, deteriorates and dies. Plato postulates an incorruptible soul for living creatures and a heavenly place very far from the earth in the sky for perfect existence. St. Augustine had the best solution to both problems. Our lives and loves on Earth are only temporary because this is not our real home. If you want permanence for love, joy and happiness, it can only be with God in Heaven.
As I face Susan, I searched for words that will open the window to my soul and help her understand I love her, but right now our destiny paths are different.
“Susan, from our early intros to forever, I will always love You. That will never change.
I also cannot marry you right now or father your children if it means leaving my post as God’s social worker in my position as a Catholic Priest.” With an angry face, Susan blurred: “how can you say love me and not want to be an integral part of my life”.
“We would have never met if it wasn’t for God and Bishop Cornelius” was my subdued muffled respond. “What do you mean by that” Susan questioned?
“During my adolescent down days, I prayed to God for a girl like you to like me. Around the same time, permission to enroll in Math curriculum at the college was denied by my educational coordinator because he did not see the value of Math in my future assignments. I turned to Bishop Cornelius who was then my superior and he overruled that decision. He knew of my strength in Math. Both prayers were answered when I met you in the Algebra Analysis class in Ottawa (“Letters 3”)”.
By leaving my post today would mean choosing my personal temporary earthly happiness over my current responsibilities to God, Bishop Cornelius, and all the church parishioners and friends that believe, trust and look up to me for spiritual guidance. It would also hurt you who I sincerely love, for abandoning my post would drown me in guilt and destroy our friendship.
Susan demeanor changed from puzzlement to being upset. “You once mention that Bishop Cornelius is thinking about retiring as Bishop and devoting his life to helping God’s people who are marginalized, disadvantaged, or suffering. His departure will mean the loss of your safety net. Your parish St. Theresa is a growing community and doing financially well, a prize for those well connect to the church hierarchy which you are not. Add to that, many of your detractors are working to exile you from your close friends and parish faithful. In short, the job you cannot walk away from right now may be taken away from you in the not to distance future. Your next job and parish will probably be in the Arctic converting Eskimos to Ukrainian Catholicism”.
Susan continued: “I want to be married and become a mother. My child bearing years are limited and am not crazy about waiting for an uncertain future. Tom (“Letters 21, 23”) is the first nice guy that did not walk away upon learning about my close friendship with you. Actually, He likes you a lot and in the beginning, I was a little concern that He liked you too much and may be gay. But He is not. He let it be known that he hopes that the love between himself and me will grow to the intensity of love that exist between you and me. Again, we meet at a junction of “where do go from here”?
Plato and St. Augustine guided my reply. I shared with Susan that the current love between Me and Her and Tom and Her will become permanent in Heaven with God. I continued with: “all the love, moments of joy and happiness that we experience in our lives on earth are just a foretaste of what we will experience with God in Heaven.
With a smirk, Susan quipped that she already sees “all three of us in Heaven tippy toeing through the tulips and prancing in grassy meadows”. Turning toward a more serious tone, She added: “What about the people we hate or let say, do not like at all. How about the people we grievously hurt, ignore, or pass up opportunities to help? Will they also be tippy toeing and prancing with us”? With a smile Susan asked: Tell me more about Heaven!
To be continued: “Letters from Canada 28 – Heaven & Quantum Mechanics”
Susan’s bold and direct queries caught me off guard but I was prepared to respond. It so happens that for weeks prior to this talk, I internally wrestled with my feelings for Susan and once again faced what is to become of our relationship. Turning to God for guidance, God came to the rescue with inspirational flashbacks to the teachings of
Plato (~427 to 347 BC) and St. Augustine (354 to 430 AD).
Plato had two problems with the Human condition. Evil and mortality. For Plato, people and nature are responsible for the evil and corruption on Earth. In Plato’s world, every living thing eventually suffers, deteriorates and dies. Plato postulates an incorruptible soul for living creatures and a heavenly place very far from the earth in the sky for perfect existence. St. Augustine had the best solution to both problems. Our lives and loves on Earth are only temporary because this is not our real home. If you want permanence for love, joy and happiness, it can only be with God in Heaven.
As I face Susan, I searched for words that will open the window to my soul and help her understand I love her, but right now our destiny paths are different.
“Susan, from our early intros to forever, I will always love You. That will never change.
I also cannot marry you right now or father your children if it means leaving my post as God’s social worker in my position as a Catholic Priest.” With an angry face, Susan blurred: “how can you say love me and not want to be an integral part of my life”.
“We would have never met if it wasn’t for God and Bishop Cornelius” was my subdued muffled respond. “What do you mean by that” Susan questioned?
“During my adolescent down days, I prayed to God for a girl like you to like me. Around the same time, permission to enroll in Math curriculum at the college was denied by my educational coordinator because he did not see the value of Math in my future assignments. I turned to Bishop Cornelius who was then my superior and he overruled that decision. He knew of my strength in Math. Both prayers were answered when I met you in the Algebra Analysis class in Ottawa (“Letters 3”)”.
By leaving my post today would mean choosing my personal temporary earthly happiness over my current responsibilities to God, Bishop Cornelius, and all the church parishioners and friends that believe, trust and look up to me for spiritual guidance. It would also hurt you who I sincerely love, for abandoning my post would drown me in guilt and destroy our friendship.
Susan demeanor changed from puzzlement to being upset. “You once mention that Bishop Cornelius is thinking about retiring as Bishop and devoting his life to helping God’s people who are marginalized, disadvantaged, or suffering. His departure will mean the loss of your safety net. Your parish St. Theresa is a growing community and doing financially well, a prize for those well connect to the church hierarchy which you are not. Add to that, many of your detractors are working to exile you from your close friends and parish faithful. In short, the job you cannot walk away from right now may be taken away from you in the not to distance future. Your next job and parish will probably be in the Arctic converting Eskimos to Ukrainian Catholicism”.
Susan continued: “I want to be married and become a mother. My child bearing years are limited and am not crazy about waiting for an uncertain future. Tom (“Letters 21, 23”) is the first nice guy that did not walk away upon learning about my close friendship with you. Actually, He likes you a lot and in the beginning, I was a little concern that He liked you too much and may be gay. But He is not. He let it be known that he hopes that the love between himself and me will grow to the intensity of love that exist between you and me. Again, we meet at a junction of “where do go from here”?
Plato and St. Augustine guided my reply. I shared with Susan that the current love between Me and Her and Tom and Her will become permanent in Heaven with God. I continued with: “all the love, moments of joy and happiness that we experience in our lives on earth are just a foretaste of what we will experience with God in Heaven.
With a smirk, Susan quipped that she already sees “all three of us in Heaven tippy toeing through the tulips and prancing in grassy meadows”. Turning toward a more serious tone, She added: “What about the people we hate or let say, do not like at all. How about the people we grievously hurt, ignore, or pass up opportunities to help? Will they also be tippy toeing and prancing with us”? With a smile Susan asked: Tell me more about Heaven!
To be continued: “Letters from Canada 28 – Heaven & Quantum Mechanics”
