Heaven

by Fred Vilbig

Heaven!

That’s our goal. If we don’t make it to Heaven, then our life here on earth will have been a failure, sweet and simple. The French novelist, Leon Bloy (†1917), once said that the only tragedy in life was not to die a saint.

But what do we know about Heaven? St. Paul said, eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has the human spirit conceived what God has in store for those who love Him. 1 Cor. 2:9. Several of the Saints have had visions of Hell: St. John Bosco, St. Faustina, and the young visionaries of Fatima to name a few. Some have seen Our Lord, the Blessed Mother, and other Saints. Yet I do not know of any Saints who have had visions of Heaven, per se.

St. Thomas Aquinas has described Heaven as the place where all of our deepest longings will be superabundantly fulfilled. In his prayer of thanksgiving after Mass, he says that Heaven will be an indescribable banquet; where all of our desires will be satisfied; and where we will be glad forever and fully delighted in perfect happiness.

It is Catholic teaching that we will be given the beatific vision, the ultimate self-communication of God to the individual person. That is not very inspiring to some. The idea of sitting around for all eternity staring at God seems to be anticlimactic. Yet it is the hope of the beatific vision that has inspired the martyrs. What are we missing?

I’d like to share some thoughts. God is all powerful. He created the entire universe, everything that is seen and even what we don’t now see, all of creation. He is the only Being who caused and causes everything to exist.

Looking around at creation, we see astounding beauty: a sunset, the moon over a lake on a clear night, the first snowfall, and our children at birth. God made all of these things. He is the source of everything that is beautiful, so He is the most beautiful Being … period. As the most beautiful Being, He is also the most desirable Person. And He is Love – it’s not just that He loves us, but He is at His very core pure, selfless love. And He loves us even more than we can possibly imagine. Finally, God is infinite.

I imagine (and that’s all it is) that Heaven will be an explosion. This purely loving God of infinite beauty will explode into our perception. Heaven will be a symphony of creation where all the apparently discordant things in this world will be revealed in the beautiful harmonic symphony of creation. Heaven will be an explosion of unimaginable color, more glorious than the most beautiful sunrise breaking into the darkness of night. And Heaven will be an ocean of love rolling over us again and again and again for all eternity. Since God is infinite, every “moment” will be new and probably overwhelming. You and I literally have nothing to give to God except our love, but God has unimaginable riches He wants to lavish on us. All God wants is our love.

That seems like a pretty good exchange to me. Go for Heaven!