HEAVEN:
WHY ARE PEOPLE SO HAPPY THERE?
Everybody knows that in
heaven there will be no pain, no suffering, no death, no bad feelings, no
mourning, no anxiety, no fear, no sin, no heartache or headache or flu or
allergies or itchy nose. Just love, justice, mercy, friendship, and intense
joy.
But the real reason people
are so happy in heaven is that the most loveable person in the entire universe
will be theirs, and they will be showered by love and gifts by Him eternally. If
you’ve only met human people in your life, then this divine person, Jesus
Christ, is really going to be something. He will steal your heart.
One of our favorite activities in heaven will be singing praises
to Him. As earthlings, it’s hard to imagine the pure bliss of that
relationship. If you are married to the love of your life, then do you remember
the minute right before you met him or her? At that moment, you probably could
not have imagined that a person as wonderful as your spouse existed.
Likewise, as of today, we
cannot possibly imagine the extent of God’s love or greatness. But the minute
we meet Him face to face for the first time, we will have something that is a
million times more spectacular than any relationship on Earth. We will have a
life we do not yet have the capacity to imagine. We will long for nothing but
Him, and this longing will be fulfilled.
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
The above is probably all we
need to know about heaven.
But here are some tidbits
you may be interested in, especially if you hope to dwell there in the near or
distant future.
In heaven, we will not be
confined by time or space. In fact, time is a dimension created only for us
Earthlings. In heaven, will not have to wait in line at the airport if we want
to visit our cousins across the ocean. Rather, we will be able to communicate
with others freely, without restraint. I would say it’s sort of like sending
100 e-mails to 100 different people at once, in full hologram, but without
having to type anything. J
Ever wanted to watch every
cable TV station simultaneously, including foreign language channels? This type
of ability seems much more likely in heaven (not that there are any TVs up
there).
What we know for sure is
that our ability to process information will be greatly enhanced.
“…the Bible indicates that
the glorified human intellect enjoyed by the saints in heaven has a phenomenal
ability to process information, dwarfing anything we are capable of in this
life. This is shown by the fact that, on Judgment Day, we will review every act
of our lives” and of others, according to Catholic Answers (see catholic.com)
In heaven, we are promised
we will see our loved ones who passed away on Earth.
In heaven, questions we’ve
always had will be answered.
In heaven, we will
experience the eternal wedding feast.
Everyone in heaven will love
us and care about us, and vice versa. Nobody will have a single complaint about
us. We will have no doubts that their love for us is sincere because the moral,
spiritual state of all will be apparent to all, with the saints and martyrs
having the highest degrees of glory shining through them, and with nobody at
all having the slightest selfish or jealous thought left in them.
In heaven, we will not have
to work to put food on the table or to pay bills. We will not have to do
mundane things like take out the trash or empty the dishwasher.
But there will be things to
do.
If there is “work,” it will
only be of the most amazing, most fulfilling, most creative kind.
If you always felt your true
calling was to paint or dance or do something more, then perhaps that’s what
you’ll be doing in heaven. What we know
for sure, is that nobody will be working for self gain or selfish glory. In
heaven, we will be ultimately fulfilled and perfected, sharing our gifts in the
way we were made to. We will know what we were designed for.
Ironically, the more we
labor for God on earth, and the more we give up our own ambitions in order to
focus on others, the more fulfilled we will feel in heaven.
DIFFERENT
REWARDS IN HEAVEN
For, in heaven, there are
different rewards for different people.
John 14:2 “In my father’s
house, there are many mansions.”
St. Augustine and other
Church Fathers said that the many mansions refer to different levels of reward
in heaven for different levels of merit acquired by believers on Earth.
St. Thomas Aquinas agreed,
writing: "The more one will be united to God the happier will one
be."
The Catechism of Trent puts
it this way: [For in my Father's house, says our Lord, there are many
mansions," in which shall be distributed rewards of greater and of less
value according to each one's deserts. He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap
sparingly: and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings]
“ Now this I say: He who
soweth sparingly shall also reap sparingly: and he who soweth in blessings shall also reap blessings.” [2 Cor 9:6]
Just as a person who longs
and waits to be reunited with a spouse during a war, we on earth have been
separated from the One who loves us more than anyone else (due to the fall of
Adam and Eve). Our final destiny and fulfillment is with God. True and
everlasting happiness can only be possible with Him. This is what our lives are
leading up to. This is what we are supposed to be preparing for by being loyal
to Him in all that we do. If you ever feel restless, it’s because you are not
yet with Him.
We will see God face to face
the minute we enter heaven.
It’s not really worth the
time imagining what heaven is like. God tells us it is so great we just don’t
have the capacity to envision it.
*Will
we have our physical bodies in heaven?
Yes, on the Last Day, when
Jesus comes to Earth to judge the heaven and the earth, we will be reunited
with our glorified bodies. Before then, our souls will be in heaven, separated
from our bodies, which will later rise. Or our souls will be in purgatory,
being purged from any remaining sinfulness before entrance into heaven.
*Where is heaven, anyway?
Well, we know it will be in a definite location. Some theologians think God
will destroy the current universe and create a new heaven. Others say God will
completely remake the existing Earth into a heavenly one.
*Will we still be married to
our spouse? No, but we believe we will maintain a special relationship with him
or her, and with all friends and relatives. Although we will not be married, we
believe we will be even closer to our spouse and other family members than on
earth. We will have deeper love for each other, as well as a deeper love for
our family members and friends. We will be overjoyed to see them there.
*How hard is it to enter
heaven, according to the Bible?
"...how hard is it for them that
trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of GOD? It is easier for a camel to
pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom
of GOD." (Mark 10:24-25)
"Enter through the narrow gate;
for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those
who enter through it are many. How narrow is the Gate and straight is the way
that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it." (Matthew 7:13-14)
"Lay not up to yourselves
treasures on earth...But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where
neither the rust, nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through
and steal." (Matthew 6:19-20)
*How does one enter
heaven?
We must have faith, hope, and love. We
must understand that it is not our own merits, but Christ’s, that allow us to
inherit eternal life. We must say yes to God’s grace, which calls us to detach
ourselves from the things of this world…money, power, fame, popularity and
other earthly pleasures….and to help the least of our brothers, loving others
more than ourselves. Finally, Jesus
promised eternal life to those who eat His flesh and drink His blood. (see John
6:54)
Those still attached to worldly things
cannot enter heaven.
The Catechism of the Catholic
Church states:
“Jesus enjoins his disciples to prefer him
to everything and everyone, and bids them "renounce all that [they
have]" for his sake and that of the Gospel.335 Shortly before
his passion he gave them the example of the poor widow of Jerusalem who, out of
her poverty, gave all that she had to live on.336 The precept of
detachment from riches is obligatory for entrance into the Kingdom of heaven.
“All Christ's faithful
are to "direct their affections rightly, lest they be hindered in their
pursuit of perfect charity by the use of worldly things and by an adherence to
riches which is contrary to the spirit of evangelical poverty” (paragraphs
2544, 2555)
What does Claire find fascinating about theologians’
descriptions of heaven?
Well,
I’m glad you asked. First, God the Father does not have a body, so we will not
see him with our physical eyes, but rather in some more intense and
all-consuming way.
So, what I find particularly
fascinating are theologians who say God will actually be connected to our
minds.
Rev. William G. Most writes:
“…Pope Benedict XII defined that when we see God, there is no image at all in
between Him and us.188 How can that be? St. Thomas Aquinas made the
obvious addition: If there is no image, then God must join Himself directly to
our intellect to do the work of an image.189 That really is seeing "face to face."
Now, this sort of vision is possible only for a
creature that is part divine. Within the Blessed Trinity there are two infinite
streams of knowledge and love. Chapter I of St. John's Gospel tells us that the
Father speaks a Word. That Word is not the quickly passing vibration of the air
that our words are. No, it is substantial and it fully expresses Him. It is a
Divine Person, the Word, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. That is the
infinite stream of knowledge, that IS a Divine Person. Between these Divine
Persons there arises equally infinite love. Again, that love is no mere
vibration, it is substantial, it is, again, a Person, the Holy Spirit, who IS
the love of the Father for the Son, and the Son for the Father. [“Catholic Apologetics
Today” by Rev. William G. Most, p. 159]
If
our sanctification is not fully complete when we die, what will the final
purging be like (before we enter heaven)?
Claire’s answer to this
question is at http://www.stillcatholic.com/CATHPurg.htm
************************************************************************************
http://www.catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/Homiletic/04-97/1/1.html
(Our Life in Heaven)
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/3543/heaven.htm
http://www.cin.org/users/james/ebooks/master/trent/tcreed12.htm
(Trent on heaven)
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07170a.htm
(Catholic Encyclopedia on heaven)
http://www.cin.org/users/jgallegos/heaven.htm
(Early Church Fathers on heaven & hell)
http://www.cin.org/users/james/ebooks/master/aquinas/acreed12.htm
(Thomas Aquinas on heaven and hell)
http://www.cin.org/users/james/ebooks/master/baltimore/bcreed12.htm
(Baltimore Catechism)
http://www.cin.org/users/james/ebooks/master/pius/pcreed12.htm
(St. Pius X)
http://www.oldcatholic.com/saints.html
(The Saints in Heaven Intercede for Us)
http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p123a11.htm
(Catechism of the Catholic Church)
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a12.htm#1042
(Catechism)
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p1s2c2a6.htm#659
(Jesus ascended into heaven)
http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/most/getchap.cfm?WorkNum=212&ChapNum=24
(theologian William G. Most)
*****************************************************************
BELOW,
AUGUSTINE DISCUSSES THE MANY MANSIONS IN HEAVEN, AND HOW CHRISTIANS WITH
GREATER MERIT (THOSE WHO LABOR HARDER WHILE ON EARTH) WILL HAVE GREATER ETERNAL
GLORY THAN OTHERS IN HEAVEN (but all with any grace will go to heaven)
St.
Augustine of Hippo: Tractates on the Gospel of John
TRACTATE
67 (JOHN 14:1-3)
But
why have we this that follows, "In my Father's house are many
mansions," but that they were also in fear about themselves? And therein
they might have heard the words, "Let not your heart be troubled."
For, was there any of them that could be free from fear, when Peter, the most
confident and forward of them all, was told, "The cock shall not crow till
thou hast denied me thrice"? Considering themselves, therefore, beginning
with Peter, as destined to perish, they had cause to be troubled: but when they
now hear, "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I
would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you," they are
revived from their trouble, made certain and confident that after all the
perils of temptations they shall dwell with Christ in the presence of God. For,
albeit one is stronger than another, one wiser than another, one more righteous
than another, "in the Father's house there are many mansions;" none
of them shall remain outside that house, where every one, according to his
deserts, is to receive a mansion. All alike have that penny, which the
householder orders to be given to all that have wrought in the vineyard, making
no distinction therein between those who have labored less and those who have
labored more: by which penny, of course, is signified eternal life, whereto no
one any longer lives to a different length than others, since in eternity life
has no diversity in its measure. But the many
mansions point to the different grades of merit in that one eternal life. For
there is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of
the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory; and so also the
resurrection of the dead. The saints, like the stars in the sky, obtain in the
kingdom different mansions of diverse degrees of brightness; but on
account of that one penny no one is cut off from the kingdom; and God will be
all in all in such a way, that, as God is love, love will bring it about that
what is possessed by each will be common to all. For in this way every one
really possesses it, when he loves to see in another what he has not himself.
There will not, therefore, be any envying amid this diversity of brightness,
since in all of them will be reigning the unity of love
(Source:
Catholic Encyclopedia: http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1701067.htm)
No
more time and space in heaven:
“But
of this one thing be not ignorant, my beloved, that one day with the Lord is as
a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Pet 3:8)
******************************************************************************************************************************
A few more Bible verses on
how we’ll be transformed in heaven:
“…it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when he
shall appear we shall be like to him: because we shall see him as he is.” [1 Jn
3:2]
“But we all, beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, are
transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the
Lord” [2 Cor 3:18]
“Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the
deaf shall be unstopped” [Is 35:5-10]
“For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” [Mt 6:21]
“And night shall be no more. And they shall not need the light of
the lamp, nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall enlighten then.
And they shall reign for ever and ever” [Rev. 22:3-5)
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