Heaven

What is heaven like?  No one truly knows except God, His Angels and Saints...but we are given many clues.  Everyone knows its the place of goodness and the place to want to go as opposed to the "other" place.  I thought of heaven as being the place of reward and justice for souls who deserved it by the kind of lives they led here on earth.  I thought of it in terms of the afterlife.  There are the Scriptures to point the way and reveal it is where God is and where His People will be forever...where there is nothing evil, no sickness, no sorrow, no fear, no worry, and no darkness.  Heaven is full of love, light, peace, joy, goodness, truth, faith, hope, happiness, endless provision, and everlasting life!  It is where God wipes away all tears.

My views of Heaven have evolved to more than just a superficial understanding of the result of a faithful life.  Many don't believe in it anymore because of the way of the world today...nor do they believe in hell or any place of eternal punishment and damnation.  Sin is in the eye of the beholder these days, some don't recognize any sin in any form.  These people are shells that walk around with empty souls and filled heads.  For all their knowledge they know nothing.  Their daily life consists in the wants and needs of their own personal momentary gratification.  Everyone has lived this way at some time or another; but the "state" I am referring to is not like that ----as much as this  generation devoid of any desire to hope for anything more. I thought perhaps it is my thinking since I am aging and my children are becoming adults and I have watched my youth fade to yesteryear...that gives me a melancholy attitude, but as each day opens to a newspaper with appalling articles...I am not so sure.

When I go into prayer, and I meditate on Heaven, its purpose, and its residents--the verse about God wiping all tears away came to mind.  I am positive those are only tears of pain and sorrow; because the experience here on earth as having such joy to bring streams down my cheeks as an overflow to my heart, as a good thing, and all good things happen in Heaven.  As I think of seeing loved ones and beloved ones God has graced my life with, is going to be an emotional one!  Ah, but some will declare that emotions are a human trait, forget that love is in Heaven, and is very much an emotion!  How will my heart contain its feelings when I finally meet Jesus, the One who suffered so much on my account?  How will the joy and gratitude respond whole-heartedly to Him, who patiently waited for me?

The verse about many mansions, speaks of dwelling places with many rooms...Jesus did not elaborate.  Revelation identifies Him who was, who is and who will be...past, present and future all in One...is this not Heaven also?  Could it be?  We will be filled with Christ, we are co-heirs with Him.  Will we be able to dwell in the past, present and future also?  Our past would be here on earth and cursed, but that is not what I mean.  Jesus came to deliver, to redeem, to restore...and the bible speaks of the time of "regeneration" and "restoration".  Is it possible we shall be given the chance to live the life were supposed to have?  In our finite understanding we have a word "dimension".  Perhaps, as each one who walked on earth, each soul on its journey back to God, may be given what the enemy has destroyed, stolen or killed?  We believe in healing, as in no blindness, deafness and lame...but what about healing of the soul?  So many personal roads, individual paths, so varied and so intimate that our Lord is aware of each place, each step...that needs replenished.

What if Heaven is where the child who  became an orphan gets the chance to live happily with the parents who were taken from him?  Could there be a place where mothers hold their infants who died prematurely and experience their growing up?  The poor child starving in the desert sands of Africa in his mother's arms...does he get to live a life with a nourished mother and full belly?  The outcast who is rejected, mocked and excluded...get the chance to experience acceptance and blessing?  We tend to think of God as automatically fullfilling our every need in an instant; or in healing every hurt upon our arrival in New Jerusalem.  Life on earth is a journey, so I wonder if the experience of the soul is not one also?  Could the soul not experience the past, present and eternity as well?

Heaven is the place of  Hope!  It is where I shall become complete in all the Lord wanted for me.  So whatever was lacking on earth, I believe will be finished in His Life.  I do not call it the afterlife because it sounds like this life is over and means nothing for the future.  It is the beginning of the Whole Life!  This existence of our reality is more than a proving ground, a teaching place, a calling towards development...it has direct bearing on the blessings to come!  This is the reason of hope for the abandoned, the lost, the forgotten, the outcast, the abused, the suffering, and the persecuted.  God is Spirit.  His Throne is not set on a cloud where we will sing praise songs for eternity and do continual Holy Mass...His Spirit will resound throughout, and His Grace shall flow in all places His Light reveals penetrating healing and restoration!  Catholics believe what we do on earth has direct bearing on what goes on after death.  I believe everything in our human life has an impact on our everlasting life in more ways than one!

All of creation teaches something about the spiritual realm.  Just the sheer beauty and expanse of the universe, and the power of the changing forces of nature tell us there is so much more than our human intelligence could ever grasp...so I believe the life lived here is just a tiny speck of the picture of a soul.  So many millions have lived and died, each with their own story...all with very different experiences of translation and regeneration.  Of course, this would take all of eternity to work out all the minute details of each soul to restoration in this way---perhaps that is why He gives life everlasting...only God could work out each one simultaneously all at the same time...and enjoy the gifts He is giving each one!  How much joy could there be for Him?  For us?  And how many tears of gratitude?