Really, HOW do they know this stuff????

The following is our conversation on the way home from church today.  We were talking about John the Baptist, as that's who Quinn will be playing in this year's Christmas pageant.  We were reciting the line where John says "I baptize with water, but there is one who comes after me who will baptize with the Holy Spirit."  That led to a discussion about what "baptizing with the Holy Spirit" means.

Colby: "But Mom, how can each of us have the Holy Spirit in us?  There's just ONE Holy Spirit!"  So we talked about the Holy Spirit being uncontainable, like God is uncontainable - having the ability to be everywhere at once, without losing any piece of Himself. 

Quinn: "So, God made the Holy Spirit?" 

Mom: "No.  The Holy Spirit IS God.  And God always was.  God just IS.  Everything else is created.  God has no beginning and no end."  Which led to talks about infinity, and things that are created, which led to angels.

Quinn: "Mom, some angels are soldiers".

Mom: "Yes, it seems so.  Some are messengers, some are soldiers."

Colby: "So do soldiers here become angels when they die?"

Mom: "No.  People don't become angels.  Angels are angels - God created them separately from us."

Quinn: "But if angels have jobs, what is OUR job when we die?"

Mom: "I'm not entirely sure, but I think our job when we're in heaven is to pray for those that are still here on earth!"

Colby: "Oh, like we ask someone down here to pray for us."

Mom: "Yeah.  Except they're up THERE, with God already.  Their prayers are really powerful."

Quinn: "Oh, that's right, Mom.  Their job is kind of just the opposite of the angels.  Angels are messengers from God to us.  People in heaven, their  job is to take our messages to God!"

Mom: "I guess you're right, Quinn.   Like, we could ask Grandma Fran or Grandpa Phil to pray for us.  Or Aunt Dorothy, because they're up in Heaven with God now."

Quinn: "Aunt Dorothy just died.  She's not up in heaven yet."

Colby: "Yeah.  you don't go STRAIGHT there.  It takes some time first."

OK.  This stopped me cold, because I have never, never, never... I swear NEVER.... talked to my boys about purgatory.  They are SEVEN.  It just never came up. So --- where did THAT come from???

Mom: "So, how do you know THAT?"

Quinn: "I just know."

Colby: "Yeah, it doesn't work that way, Mom."

Mom: "So, if they're not in heaven yet, where are they?"

Quinn: "Well, their body is in the ground.  And they're not all the way up with God yet.  They're just kind of...waiting."

Colby: "They don't have a body anymore, Mom, but they're not yet with God."

Quinn: "Kind of like a ghost, but not really."

Mom: "Ok.  So, are ghosts kind of like souls of people that got lost?"

Colby: "NO ONE gets lost on their way to Heaven, Mom.  Jesus leads them there."

Quinn: "Yeah.  God guides them up.  Like a magnet."

Mom: "Well, the Church teaches that there IS a waiting place, because nothing impure or unclean can enter heaven and be with God.  Even though Jesus died so that we can be with Him in heaven, we have to 'clean up' first, like we're getting ready to go to a big wedding feast."

Quinn: "Yeah, that's what it's like, Mom."

I recognize these little moments in my boys' life, these relevatory little moments, when I glimpse something deep at work in their little souls - something I certainly didn't plant there.  HOW DO THEY KNOW, if I or noone else ever taught them??  They just do.  And it amazes me every single time.