Certainly you have wondered about what awaits us after our death. Questions come flooding in; some serious, some silly. Will I see my mother/father? Are there pets in heaven? Can I play golf?! I like to cook. Is there a kitchen I can use? And, what do we do all day (or is there a DAY?). Welcome to the club! All Humankind yearns to know what “Heaven” will be like.
The above questions come from the enjoyments and relation- ships that nourish us here on earth. Will they continue? As reasonable as they are, they leave out the most important fact of heaven. We will see God. God who is the source of all creation. God who thought up the pleasures of human life; He will be present to us as the fulfillment of all that is Good.
Nevertheless, the questions continue. Humankind yearns to know what “Heaven” will be like. The following thoughts rely on what is given to us in Sacred Scripture and the teaching of the Catholic Church.
- At its root, heaven is to “be with God”. (“Our Father who art in heaven . . . “).This means we are joined to God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is only accomplished by God’s grace (not our doing), who chose to become a human being. Christ (the Son) took our full human nature. From this point on God is forever joined to humanity We’ve been “grafted” on to God by His will for us. He will never take back the humanity He took on in being born here on earth.
- Okay, so heaven is to be with God. What’s that like? Here is the great mystery of which we have only partial answers. Read 1 John 3:13. “We shall be like God for we shall see Him as He is.” So in some sense we will “look on the face of God.” Looking and seeing is part of heaven.
- Theologians have reasoned to some pretty wonderful conclusions about heaven. Namely, we only enter heaven by being joined to the Resurrected Mystical Body of Christ. By this, we are taken up into the Blessed Trinity. We find ourselves “in God” from our position “in the Son Jesus”. And when all is accomplished in creation, sin and death have been overcome by the merits of Christ then Jesus turns to God the Father (with us in him) and “God will be all in all.” 1 Corinthians 15:28. It’ll be just God.
- So will we “see” our loved ones? And all who have tried to love in their lives? Yes, but this will be a different kind of seeing. One description has us seeing loved ones and the part they played in bringing Christ to the world while they lived with us on earth. We will See the Christ they were . . The Christ your loved one embodied.
- Remember, God did not make us angels (pure spirits). He made us Human beings (body and soul). Jesus’s human nature was resurrected to a glorified body. That tells us we will have glorified bodies too. So that we will see each other. . . (Your mother’s sweetness will shine in her special place in the glorified body of Christ.) And we will rejoice in this communion with them.
- Lastly, Pope Francis (I’ve not seen his quote) is telling us heaven is not like a “place” as we think of it here on earth… like Hawaii or Rome! Time and space are dimensions of the created universe. God transcends time and space. So to be with God, and in God, is its own reality.
- All this we await in Faith when what “eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, nor has it entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him.”
1 Corinthians 2: 9,10.
May God bless you in this Easter season. May your faith in the Resurrected Christ grow ever stronger. And by your Faith may you be moved to bring the love of Christ into this world.
Now let’s get to work!
Fr. Tim
