For a Lighter Side of Life

Can’t Earn Heaven

An old tale speaks of a man who died and faced the angel Gabriel at heaven's gates. The An Initiative of Jesus Youth
A Missionary Movement at the Service of the Church
angel said, "Here's how this works. You need a hundred points to make it into heaven. You
tell me all the good things you have done, and I will give a certain number of points for each
of them. The more good there is in the work that you cite, the more points you will get for it. Don Bosco Utume October 18, Mission Sunday: Issue 100
When you get to a hundred points, you get in."
"Okay," the man said, "I was married to the same woman for 50 years and never cheated on • Jambo You(th) is a weekly news letter aimed at helping the Youth in moulding their daily
her, even in my heart." lives in Christ.
Gabriel replied, "That's wonderful. That's worth three points." • Our vision is expressed in just two phrases: GOOD CHRISTIANS and
"Three points?" said the man incredulously. "Well, I attended church all my life and sup- RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS.
ported its ministry with my money and service."
"Terrific!" said Gabriel, "that's certainly worth a point." Pep-up : Stories for Reflection
"One point?" said the man with his eyes beginning to show a bit of panic. "Well, how about To the Young : Forgiveness

this: I opened a shelter for the homeless in my city, and fed needy people by the hundreds
during holidays."
"Fantastic, that's good for two more points," said the angel.
"TWO POINTS!" cried the man in desperation. "At this rate the only way I will get to heaven
is by the grace of God."
"Come on in," said Gabriel.
How to Get to Heaven?
An exasperated mother, whose son was always getting into mischief, finally asked him,
"How do you expect to get into Heaven?"
The boy thought it over and said, "Well, I'll just run in and out and in and out and keep slam-
ming the door until St. Peter says, 'For Heaven's sake, Jimmy, come in or stay out!'"
Last Drop
CONNECTIONS IN HIGH PLACES
In April 2001, in the midst of the Israeli/Arab conflict, a motorcade carrying the Security
Service Chief of Gaza came under bullet fire from Israeli troops. The frightened security
official called Yasser Arafat from his car for help. Arafat in turn called the U.S. ambas-
sador, who then called the U.S. secretary of state, Colin Powell. Colin Powell then
phoned Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, who ordered the shooting to stop imme-
diately. And it did. The Security Chief's connections eventually saved his life.
In a similar way, Christians have a divine connection to the ultimate power of the
universe that can make a world of difference in any situation.
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Features
Points to Ponder : Cirrhosis of Giving
Saint of the Week : St. Anthony Claret
Jokes : For a Lighter side of Life
Last Drop : Connections in High Places
Mission to Die!
In 490 B.C. as Xerxes was advancing into Greece, he came to Ther-
mopylae, a small pass in central Greece. Herodotus tells us that by the
time he got there, he had something like six million troops on land and
sea. Gathered there to stop the advance of the powerful Persian mon-
arch was a mere handful of Greeks headed up by 300 Spartans led by
the Spartan king Leonidas.
When Persian troops came to check the pass, they saw 300 warri-
ors brushing their long hair and doing aerobics and other such things.
Back they went to their master to report that some fools with weapons
were playing games in the ravine. Demaratus, a Greek physician and counselor to the Per-
sian court, assured the king they weren't playing games--they were performing a death rit-
ual.
These men had come to die!
Many an unmarried man had volunteered, but Leonidas insisted on taking with him men
who had living sons. They never meant to come back!
Love for Sparta motivated these men--love for humanity moved this God of ours. This
God came to earth to die! In doing this, God was demonstrating his own love for us.
Jim McGuiggan
“A grain of wheat remains no more than a single grain unless dropped into the
ground and dies. If it does die, then it produces many grains.” John 12:24

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Editors: Shyjan SDB , Edwin Tangie SDB
 Forgiveness
Corrie ten Boom and her family secretly housed Jews in their home during WWII. Their "illegal"
activity was discovered, and Corrie and her sister Betsie were sent to the German death camp
Ravensbruck. There Corrie would watch many, including her sister, die.
After the war she returned to Germany to declare the grace of Christ:
It was 1947, and I'd come from Holland to defeated Germany with the message that God
forgives. It was the truth that they needed most to hear in that bitter, bombed-out land, and I
gave them my favorite mental picture. Maybe because the sea is never far from a Hollander's
mind, I liked to think that that's where forgiven sins were thrown.
"When we confess our sins," I said, "God casts them into the deepest ocean, gone forever.
And even though I cannot find a Scripture for it, I believe God then places a sign out there that
says, 'NO FISHING ALLOWED.' "
The solemn faces stared back at me, not quite daring to believe. And that's when I saw
him, working his way forward against the others. One moment I saw the overcoat and the brown
hat; the next, a blue uniform and a cap with skull and crossbones. It came back with a rush--the
huge room with its harsh overhead lights, the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of
the floor, the shame of walking naked past this man. I could see my sister's frail form ahead of
me, ribs sharp beneath the parchment skin. Betsie, how thin you were! That place was Ravens-
bruck, and the man who was making his way forward had been a guard--one of the most cruel
guards.
Now he was in front of me, hand thrust out: "A fine message, Fräulein! How good it is to
know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!" And I, who had spoken so glibly
of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand. He would not remember
me, of course--how could he remember one prisoner among those thousands of women? But I
remembered him. I was face-to-face with one of my captors and my blood seemed to freeze.
"You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk," he was saying. "I was a guard there." No, he
did not remember me. "But since that time," he went on, "I have become a Christian. I know that
God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as
well. Fräulein,"--again the hand came out--"will you forgive me?"
And I stood there--I whose sins needed again and again to be forgiven--and could not for-
give. Betsie had died in that place. Could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking?
It could have been many seconds that he stood there--hand held out--but to me it seemed hours
as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do.
For I had to do it--I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we
forgive those who have injured us. "If you do not forgive men their trespasses," Jesus says,
"neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses." And still I stood there with the cold-
ness clutching my heart.
But forgiveness is not an emotion--I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the
will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. "Jesus, help me!" I prayed silently. "I
can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling." And so woodenly, mechanically, I
thrust out my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place.
The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then
this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.
"I forgive you, brother!" I cried. "With all my heart!" For a long moment we grasped each
other's hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God's love so in-
tensely, as I did then. But even then, I realized it was not my love. I had tried, and did not have
the power. It was the power of the Holy Spirit.
Corrie ten Boom
“Make your life a mission - not an intermission”
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Cirrhosis of the Giver!
This disease was first discovered in about 34 AD, by a husband and wife team, Ananias
and Sapphira. It is an acute condition which renders the patient's hand immobile when
called upon to move in the direction of the wallet or purse, and then to the collection
plate.
The remedy is to remove the patient from the house of worship, since it is clinically ob-
servable that this condition does not occur in other places, such as the restaurant, super-
market or motor car garage.
Of course the best therapy, a sure and lasting cure, is to get right with God and
neighbour, as this affliction is symptomatic of a more serious problem: heart trouble!
We should give for the same reason that we should exercise our bodies. Our muscles
are made so that they are kept in peak condition by strenuous exercise. If you "save"
your muscles by not making them do anything, you actually diminish them and they be-
come like jellyfish. This is true of our "giving" muscles too. God has made us to be givers.
It is not something we have to do in order to please him. It is something we need to do to
keep ourselves "in shape"
Givers generally laugh a lot and have very little, if any, self-pity. They do not constantly
calculate cost-benefit results. They are not burdened by their possessions.
Giving is really to the givers own benefit therefore! But it does not make us automatically
a saint or a martyr! You can give without loving! Still you cannot love without giving. And
in giving we simply reflect God's image, he who endlessly gives. Miserliness diminishes
our image of God. The more we give the more we are.
SAINT for the WEEK
October 24 St. Anthony Claret
He was a Catalan, i.e. a native of the region of Spain whose capital is Barcelona, and
was born in 1807. He worked as a weaver until he was drawn to the religious life; he
always wanted to be a foreign missionary but for many years his health prevented it. He
was, however, responsible for the founding of an Order of missionary clergy which still
exists today, and who are commonly known as the Claretian Fathers. He was then
nominated as Archbishop of Santiago in Cuba, which was still a Spanish possession,
and worked heroically for the interests of the most oppressed, especially workers in the
sugar plantations who were to all intents and purposes slaves. He returned to Spain in
1857, and devoted himself to writing, but also to encouraging scientific, musical and
linguistic studies. He was a Christian humanist in a country not always noted for its
enlightenment. He also served as personal Chaplain to the Queen (Isabel II) and when
she was driven out of the country in the Spanish revolution of 1868 he accompanied her
into exile in France, dying just over the border at Narbonne, in 1870. He was canonised
in 1950.
“Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished. If you're alive, it isn't.”
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