A man goes to heaven and meets St. Peter at the gate. The man says ‘I’m here’. St. Peter says “Show me your scars!” The man says “I have no scars.” St. Peter says “you mean with all the battles God gave you to fight – battles to protect the weak, the put upon, the oppressed, you fought for none.” The man stood silent.

“Ok then” said St Peter “then show me your burns.” The man shrugged no “I have none.” St Peter says “you mean when the World erupted in fire due to climate change you did nothing to help put them out, nothing to save God’s animals, nothing to save the homes and lives of your fellow men and woman from the fires.” The man shrugged sheepishly.

“OK then” St. Peter says, “show me your bowed back and stretched arms from trying to lift up and help those less fortunate than the family God birthed you into and from you. God gave you those gifts for a reason.”  The man has nothing to show.

“Ok”, St. Peter says with a smile, “Show me your bank balances, hidden and not hidden from the Government,”  The man then smiles broadly with glee, and suddenly finds himself inside a very different gate burning with fire.

© words by Dan DeMarle – premise adapted from a story told by Martin Sheen