Grace of God

A priest dreamed he had died and was standing in front of the gates of heaven. As it will happen in such make-believe dreams, he came face to face with St. Peter, who was holding a big book and was ready to decide if this man - a priest -was going to be allowed into heaven.

St. Peter gave him a surprise announcement. "You're going to need 100 points to get inside the gates."

"Well," said he said proudly, "I was a priest for 47 years."

"That's nice," answered Peter. "That gets you one point."

"One point?! That's all I get? Just one point for 47 years of service?"

"Yes, that's correct," said Peter.

The priest was concerned at the scoring system. He tried to think of other things he had done in life.

"Well," he said, "I visited shut-ins every chance I got."

"One point."

"I developed a number of recovery programs, and I took part in many civic groups in our city. People loved me!"

"One point. Now you've got three points."

"I worked with youth," said the priest, "and surely you must know what that's like!"

"One more point," said Peter, "and that makes four. You need 96 more points."

"Oh no!" the priest cried out in panic. "I feel so helpless, so inadequate. Except for the grace of God, I don't have a chance."

St. Peter smiled a big smile. "Ah . . . the grace of God! That's good for 96 points. Come on in!"