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Question:
Answer:
Alas, getting into heaven is not that easy. We must read John 14:13 in proper context:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; if you ask anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:12-14, emphasis added).
In addressing his apostles, Jesus continues, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15), adding further:
“He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me (John 14:21-24, emphases added; see John 4:3).
Believing in Jesus means authentically loving him, which in turn means keeping his commandments and thereby becoming more like him: holy. If we love Jesus and our neighbor well, and do appropriate penance when we fall short through sin, we won’t have attachments to sin that keep us from perfect communion with God when we die (CCC 1471-73), and thus we can avoid the purification of Purgatory (CCC 1030-32).
So Jesus is kind of like the mechanics in the old TV commercial for oil filters, “You can pay me now. Or you can pay me later.”