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Minimum Heaven……………………………...……………………………………..Pages
from 2022 A.C.R.Y. Annual
by fatherstagon
Saint Nicholas Church, Barton, Ohio
Once, in the course of his ministry, a priest was summoned to the deathbed of a member of his parish by an anxious member of the family. As he gathered his sick call bag and began driving to the hospital, the priest reflected that the individual in question was a “C and E” member, that is, his only appearance in Church was for Christmas and Easter, along with the annual Lenten Confession and Communion.
In the midst of weeping relatives, the priest heard the man’s last confession, somehow no different than any of the others; he had eaten meat on Friday, not said his prayers, taken the Name of the Lord in vain. When asked about his church attendance he said, “I went the minimum amount of times that I had to and made my Easter confession too.”
Between the dawn and the day, the man died. The parish treasurer reported that the newly departed had paid the minimum dues and, since he had come to the sacraments the minimum number of times, he was buried from the Church, much to the relief of his family. However, at the hour of death the man encountered the Archangel Michael who led him to the “fearful judgment seat of Christ,” which he had heard tell of in the Liturgy. Prostrate before the Lord, he was relieved to hear that a place had been apportioned him in the heavenly kingdom. As the Archangel led him past the beautiful mansions, and crystal streets of the New Jerusalem, he wondered in anticipation, which palace would be his. Finally, the Archangel led him to a small house seemingly on the edge of heaven. The place looked unfinished and was sparsely furnished.
As the Archangel led him to the door the man protested, “This can’t be mine! I paid my Church dues; I did the minimum that the By-laws require. I want what I have coming to me.” The Archangel replied, “Yes we know about your fulfilling of the minimum requirements to be a member of the Church! This is the minimum heaven!”
The Archangel answered him, “This is the house you have built for yourself with your minimum offer-ings. Unfortunately, you didn’t give us enough to finish it. There is no credit here you know!”
Sitting on one of the hard backed chairs that furnished the place, he spotted a small television set. Somewhat surprised, he turned it on to view heavenly T.V. It was black and white with only one channel showing re-runs of the Divine Liturgy back in his old parish. When he saw the Archangel again he complained vociferously: “Is that the only thing to watch, and in black and white? Aren’t there other channels?”
“Actually, most of the people in maximum heaven don’t even care about T.V. but we thought we would let the people in minimum heaven see what they had missed all of those years of sleeping in on Sunday morning or taking their children to Sunday morning sports competitions and training them to become members of minimum heaven, too!” “This really isn’t fair,” said the man. “I paid my church dues! Why isn’t God keeping His end of the bargain?” “God is not a dealer bound by contract,” said the Archangel. “I suppose,” he continued, “that you never read the words, ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son,’ in the Gospel of Saint John. God gave you the maximum, the gift of His Son to die on the Cross for you. You chose to give God the minimum in return. But since God has no need of anything from you or any other person, He puts whatever you give Him here for your future use.” “But, it isn’t fair,” said the man. “I never knew that!”
“Have you never heard the words of Jesus in the Gospel,” the Archangel asked puzzled:
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)
“I did hear that once, but I never really paid attention to it. I am sorry now that I didn’t. But so I didn’t go to Church much and only gave the minimum of time and money. I did go to
the sacra-ments, even on my deathbed. What did I do so wrong to have deserved only minimum heaven? Did I need to fast and pray more, attend Liturgy more, receive the Sacraments more? What?”
“I trust,” the Archangel Michael replied, “that you never heard in the Gospel on Holy Thursday the words of Jesus:
You are My friends if you do what
I com-mand. I no longer call you servants, be-cause a servant does not know his master’s business.
Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from
My Father I have made known to you. (John 15:14-15)
“I haven't been to church on Holy Thursday since I was a child with my mother,” the man answered. “But what does that have to do with anything?” not as burdens or obligations. And now you are angry with God for giving back to you what you have offered Him. If friendship with Christ had been your treasure, you would have gladly done all that you could to be in His presence and to support His Mystical Body, the Church, without any thought of reward in return. Having done the maximum in your desire to be with the Lord, you would now be in maximum heaven. You have discovered too late the truth of these words: “For where your treasure is there your heart will be also.” “Oh well,” the man thought, “at least it isn’t hell.” But then he shuddered as the thought came to him, “or maybe it is!”
“Everything,” said the Archangel Michael. “Because you only saw God as some sort of Mer-chant from Whom you could purchase salvation with minimum offerings and minimum gestures, such as your deathbed sacraments. But during your entire life you never sought to become a friend of God or to have God befriend you. You have give God scraps of your time and your money but you have never given Him your heart. If you had done so, you would have found prayer, giving offerings of time and money and receiving the Sacraments as joyful meetings with the Lord and
