Made for Greatness

By Megan Lacourrege

When I learned about purgatory as a child, I had thought, “I guess that’s where I’m going.”

I didn’t believe I could personally go straight to heaven, so I thought it best to aim for purgatory. At least it’s not hell, and I’ll go to heaven eventually, right?

As I got older, I realized that saints – the people who did go straight to heaven – were very real and very human. They were sinners who decided that they didn’t want to sin anymore. They desired God and charity above all else.

It was ironic that I perceived the afterlife in this way in childhood. I was a high achiever, and I never questioned my ability to succeed. Yet, spiritually, I wrote off the necessity to also grow and achieve in an immortal way.

In raising children, it can feel overwhelming just covering the basics of care: feeding, cleaning, educating and more. To do these things is not a small or menial task. Yet, there is a spiritual component to all of the physical care we give. We can feed our children with the words of everlasting life. We can clean their bodies while also guiding their souls to choose right from wrong. We can educate them with academic knowledge while also instilling the virtues.

Parents often remind their kids they can shoot for the moon in this life, but it is good for us to also inspire them to aim for heaven, which will have eternal worth.