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Heaven
1. Our real home is Heaven
“He acquired a Doctorate in law and in philosophy, and was applying for a post as a professor at the University of Madrid. He had specialized in two demanding subjects and had done brilliantly in both. He sent word to me: he was ill, and wanted me to go and see him. I arrived at the lodgings where he was staying. He greeted me with the words: ``Father, I am dying.'' I comforted him affectionately. He wished to make a general confession. That very same night, he died. An architect friend and a doctor helped me dress the corpse. Seeing that young body, which soon began to decompose, the three of us agreed that two university qualifications were worth nothing compared to the definitive qualification which as a good Christian he had just obtained.” St. Josemaria, Furrow 877
‘For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.’ (2 Cor 5:1)
2. Nothing is this word can be compared with the joys of heaven
St. Catherine of Siena had a very powerful mystical experience (perhaps like that of St. Paul who was transported to the third heaven). After it, she spent several days crying. When finally she was able to talk, she said ‘vidi arcana Dei’ (I saw the mysteries of God). Returning to this life, after having being so close to God, was a real martyrdom for her.
In a painting of St. Cecilia by Raphael, some music instruments are broken and neglected (St. Cecilia is the patroness of the musicians). She is in a kind of ecstasies. The meaning of the scene is obvious: anything in this world, no matter how beautiful an exciting may be (like music) is very little compared with the joys of heaven.
And yet we see heaven so distant that it exercises very little influence on our lives. We easily exchange any little satisfaction of earth for the eternal joy in heaven.
3. Who goes to heaven?
‘Those who die in God’s grace and friendship and are perfectly purified live for ever with Christ. They are like God for ever, for they ‘see him as he is,’ (1 Jn 3:2) ‘face to face’ (1 Cor 13:12)’. (Catechism, 1023).
4. How is heaven?
Heaven is not so much a place but a state. We see God face to face, and this will have such an effect on us, that it will transform us. ‘Beloved, we are God's children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.’ (1 Jn 3:2) Our bodies will also be affected by this transformation. In 1 Cor St. Paul describes the properties of the glorious bodies.
Heaven is a community of love.
In the Divine Comedy, Dante discovers that there are many unequal levels in heaven. He asks Piccarda, who is in the lowest heaven’s level, whether she is not discontent with her lowly place and whether she longs to move closer up to God. Her answer is that no one in heaven is dissatisfied with his place or envious of anyone else. “Each citizen is pleased with the kingdom as a whole and the whole is present to each individual” Peter Kreeft, Angels and Demons
5. The whole creation will partake in the glory of the blessed
‘But according to his promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.\ (2 Pet 3: 13)
6. Our path to heaven begins on earth
Possessing the virtue of hope is like having a little heaven already on earth. St. Damian of Veuster, the apostle of the lepers, asked a lady –a leper- he was about to baptize what name she had chosen. She said she wanted to be named after Our Lady of Sorrows. Fr. Damian said: ‘No, you shall be named after Our Lady of Hope’.
While God was creating this earth, he asked the animals what wishes they had, and he fulfilled them all. But when the humans heard about this, they were upset because they had never been consulted. ‘We'll never be satisfied with the way this earth was made’, they complained to the Lord. ‘You're not supposed to be’, replied the Lord. ‘This earth was not meant to be your home; heaven is your home.’ That is why, ever since then animals walk with their eyes looking toward the earth, while humans stand erect and look towards heaven.
‘If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.’ (Col 3:1-2)
