GO T O HEA HE AVEN
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FULTON J. SHEEN
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GO TO HEAVEN A Spiritual Road Map to Eternity
IGNA IGN ATIUS TI US PRESS
SAN FRANCISCO FRANCIS CO
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Original edition edition published pu blished by Dell D ell Publi Pub lish shing, ing, New Ne w York York © 1949, 1958, 1960 by Fulton J. Sheen All rights reserved Copyright permission was granted by The Estate of Fulton J. Sheen / The Society for the Propagation of the Faith www.onefamilyinmission.org Nihil obstat : John A. Woodwine, J.C.D., Censor Librorum Imprimatur : Francis Franc is Cardinal Spellman, Spellman, Arc hbishop of New York August 10, 1960
Cover photograph of Fulton J. Sheen by Fabian Fabian Bachrac Bachrac h (1965) Peoria Star Journal Archives Archives Cover design by Enrique Javier Aguilar Pinto Reprinted in 2017 by Ignatius Press, San Francisco All rights reserved ISBN 978-1-62164-154-4 ( PB) PB) ISBN 978-1-68149-776-1 (EB) Library Library of Congress Control Number Number 2017931781 Printed in the United States of America
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Dedicated to the LADY who looked down to Heaven As she held Heaven in i n her arms
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CONTENTS Go to Heaven 1 The First Faint Summons to Heaven 2 Christ Helps Our Minds and Wills 3 Grace and Faith in Christian Life 4 Christ’s Office as Teacher, King, and Priest 5 Christian Life Is Struggle 6 Christian Marriage and Love 7 Prayer and Meditation 8 Love of God and Resignation to His Will 9 The Role of Mary in the Church 10 Suffering and Consolation 11 Our Final Choice Acknowledgments otes
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GO TO HEAVEN If Horace Greeley had not believed there was such a thing as territory beyond the Mississippi, he would never have said: “Go west, young man.” If the modern man did not believe there was such a thing as hell, he would never give so many directives to those to whom he did not like to go there. Nobody ever says: “Go to heaven.” That is why we propose in this book to reverse the direction. As a matter of fact, neither hell nor heaven is related to our lives as arbitrary punishments or rewards. Hell is not related to an evil life, as is generally supposed, as a spanking is related to an act of disobedience, for a spanking need not necessarily follow disobedience, and rarely does in juvenile circles. Rather, hell is related to an evil life as blindness is related to the plucki plucking ng out of an eye. Heaven is not related related to a good life as a medal is related to a school examination; it is rather related to a good life as knowledge to study. By the mere fact that we apply ourselves intellectually, we become learned. This book is a road map to heaven and follows a very definite pattern. Many of the ideas contained herein have appeared in our previous writings, but they are here ordered in the forms of steps to the Kingdom of Light. The book opens with the story of man full of certain tensions and complexes originating from the conflict between what he ought to do and what he actually does. Once man recognizes that he cannot escape this civil war within by lifting himself by his own psychological bootstraps, he sees that supra-human aid is possible. There is a Truth beyond the reach of his mind and a Power beyond his tepid and weak will. This Truth and this Power are gifts. Man’s quest for God, however dim it is, is seen to be answered by God’s quest for man. Once there is this divine romance between divinity and mankind in the person o Christ, there arises the great question confronting every man: Will he appropriate to himself this Divine Life, which is gratis and, therefore, called “grace”, or will he reject it? Life is a tremendous drama in which one may say, “Aye” or “Nay” to his eternal destiny. To admit light to the eye, music to the ear, and food to the stomach is to perfect each of these organs; so too, to admit Truth to the mind and Power to the will is to make us more than a creature, namely, a partaker of the Divine Nature. From that point on, the signposts to Heaven are clearly marked in succeeding chapters. Some say we have our hell on this earth. We do. We can start it here, but it does not finish here. But heaven has its beginnings here in a true peace of mind in union with Divine Life, but it does not finish here either. That is why we offer the encouragement: “Go to Heaven.”
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