Much like the answer to many good Catholic questions, the answer to this question is both yes and no. A saint is someone who is in heaven, and by virtue of this definition, yes, you do have to be a saint to be in heaven.

However, due to her capitalization of the word “Saint,” I think that this student was asking if you must be a canonized saint to be in heaven. The answer to that question is no.

Walk into the Kindergarten classroom at OLP and you’ll find children learning things that most adults already know, like how to read, write, do simple math, and take care of their personal things. You’ll find them beginning to understand critical social skills that even adults continue to work on. Things like being a good friend, choosing your words carefully, being inclusive, and how to forgive. However, if you walked into the Kindergarten classroom at OLP, the most refreshing thing to see is the lessons they can reteach us.

The concept of purgatory is one of the most frequently questioned Catholic teachings, by middle school students and adults alike. In my wrestling match with the Church, purgatory was one of the hardest won battles. I associated purgatory with images of fire and brimstone. Suffering in purgatory seemed a lot like earning God’s grace that was meant to be freely given because of Christ’s sacrificial death. Either Jesus paid the price for my sins and I’d go to heaven, or He didn’t and I’d go to hell, but there could be no in between.

This weekend, and the remaining Sundays in Lent, you may notice in your Worship Aid that there are two sets of readings listed- one for the 5 pm and 9 am Masses and one for the 11 am Mass.  This might seem off to many because the Catholic Church strictly follows the Lectionary: the three-year cycle of readings from Holy Scripture.  This year, we are in Year C, and the readings for Year C are what will be read at 5 pm and 9 am.  However, at 11 am, we will be reading the readings from Year A.