Monday, April 09, 2007

Heaven Is Other People



"In his play No Exit Jean Paul Sartre portrays man as a being who is hopelessly trapped. He sums up his gloomy picture of man in the words, 'Hell is other people.' This being so, hell is everywhere, and there is no exit, the doors are everywhere closed.

Christ, however, says to us, 'I, your God, have become your Son. Come out!' Now the exact opposite is true: heaven is other people. Christ summons us to find heaven in him, to discover him in others and thus to be heaven to each other. He calls us to let heaven shine into this world, to build heaven here. Jesus stretches out his hand to us in his Easter message, in the mystery of the sacraments, so that Easter may be now, so that the light of heaven may shine forth in this world and the doors may be opened. Let us take his hand! Amen."

-Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger in Behold the Pierced One.

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