In our section God and the world, Pastoral Officer Dr. Manfred Waltl Thoughts on how the dream of peace, of heaven on earth, can come true.
One of the most famous songs by John Lennon is called "Imagine" - the dream of a world without war, without racial barriers (unfortunately again very current in the USA), all people are sisters and brothers. A nice dream! For the former Beatle, however, this also includes: "Imagine there's no heaven." It is a world without religion and without heaven - for him, John Lennon, a prerequisite for peaceful coexistence.
Dr. Manfred Waltl, Catholic pastoral advisor in Geretsried.
© Photo: Lippert / Archive
Now it can hardly be denied that religions have been and still are the cause of diverse conflicts, but whether people in a world without God and without heaven would really be happier - "above us only sky", just the naked universe above us?
The Bible dreams of another dream. The holidays of the past few weeks have shown us that. On Ascension Day we celebrate the ascension of Jesus into Heaven, on Pentecost the Holy Spirit is sent to us from Heaven, and on Corpus Christi we carry heavenly hope in the middle of our city. All of this tells us: "Imagine there IS a heaven." Imagine there is heaven. Imagine Jesus is alive, He really rose. You will rise again too. Your future is not the grave, but the sky, the fullness of love with God.
Imagine that your life is borne by an eternal future, by whoever is love himself and who does not lose any piece of the love given and received in this world, who heals all wounds and brings about comprehensive reconciliation. "Imagine there IS a heaven" - imagine there is heaven. Dare to dream this dream and it will change you. He will give you hope, give you strength and let you deal with life's challenges differently. He will help you to experience a little bit of the great sky in this world.
Read also: How to make the world a little better
Lennon's song ends with the words: “You may say, I am a dreamer, but I am not the only one. I hope someday you will join us ”-“ Maybe I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope that it will one day be our dream together. ”I hope so for our dream of heaven. And that one day this dream will come true.
