Sophia Institute Press published a book 17 Steps to Heaven: A Catholic Guide to Salvation by Father Leo J. Trese. Some of these steps include: deepen your understanding of the faith, strive to do God’s will in all things, let the thought of heaven inspire you to be holy, learn to pray well, strive to win souls for Christ, and let love diminish your fear of death.
So many of these and other steps not mentioned here are gems!
What we’ll cover today is something I believe people, and especially teens who struggle with depression, need to hear.
In the chapter on “let the thought of heaven inspire you to be holy”, Father Leo mentions that in heaven, we are going to “explode with love as we look upon Him who is infinitely good, infinitely lovable.”
Love is a 2 way street as the saying goes. So it’s not enough that we’re going to love God with this explosion as great as that is! Father Leo continued that, “we also must be certain that our love is returned.”
God will love us back because we are so lovable. Here’s the mic drop finishing paragraph from Fr. Leo:
”Right now, even the most prideful among us would not claim to be the most lovable person in all creation. Secretly we all recognize that we have some pretty unlovable spots. In heaven, however, we shall find that we underrated ourselves while on earth. Cleansed from all sin and in the original beauty of soul with which God endowed us, we shall find that we are incredibly lovable. God will prove it to us as His love envelops us and carries us to dizzying heights of ecstasy.”
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