“Come to me”... It is the greatest of all questions... What happens when we die? What happens when we leave the earth? What is it like in eternity? No question is more important. Whether we know it or not, we have been preparing since birth for what comes after life. Our entire existence is a build-up to death.

Earth is a stage of life and throughout our earthly journey we harbour the often daunting notion that one day we will succumb to ageing, an illness or accident that will release our soul into a world that is vastly different...

Some people build castles in the sand, some may accumulate all possible wealth in a way that looks like they have conquered the world, but in reality every person is equal and every single person will arrive at a point when his or her soul is brought into eternal life.

No matter who you are and no matter what you or others think of you, you will be naked before God and the way you are judged may surprise you.

One day you will be reduced to nothing but a spirit. If you are prepared it will be a glorious day, a day of the greatest release and freedom. No fantasy could contain what God has in store for you. It will make the worst suffering on earth seem like a trifle – the tiny price of admission. That is if you are prepared. If you don’t want to go to heaven there is the temporary option of Purgatory or the permanent option of hell.

Christ came to remind us that we are spiritual and not physical beings, and that our consciousness does not cease when we die... We do not “blink out”.

Our consciousness does not turn into nothingness, despite what certain philosophers say...

Earth is temporary. It lasts weeks, a few years or seven, eight, nine decades... And that is a grain of sand in the ocean of eternity.

While on earth we are in exile. We are away from home.

We are on a kind of mission and we are in a kind of school and we are tested for something larger than anything you can see with your eyes or hear with your ears or even imagine. After death there is life. The SOUL does not end with the body. Our bodies are not us. Our souls are us...

We are ON A KIND OF MISSION and WE ARE IN A KIND OF SCHOOL... yes and a school can be tiresome... we come today to Jesus, as we do regularly, to say thank you for the vision for our lives that he gives us, we come to celebrate that we are already sharers in that spiritual – soul life, that will lead us to eternal life. We are here to nourish this life – he helps us carry our yokes, and with his help they are no problems.

That is the news of Jesus... and he shows, teaches us the way...