Store up treasures in Heaven
Heaven is the ultimate completion of human existence through fulfilled love. In fact, it can be said that heaven begins in the present, on earth. Heaven is seeing God face to face, it is the fullness of life in Christ, it is love itself. That is why you can experience heaven already here on earth. The closer we are to Christ, the more love there is in us, the more we taste a foretaste of heaven. Heaven on earth is brought about in an encounter with Christ, especially in the Eucharist. “At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known”. (cf. 1 Cor 13:12).
Yet our life in Christ on earth will never be the full experience of heaven. Because we are in the world, in sin and in weakness. The reality of heaven is obscured by the world. It can be said that our more frequent experiences on earth are hell (evil, sin, hatred, death) and purgatory (suffering) than heaven.
Heaven cannot be defined spatially. Heaven is not a place outside the earth that one enters. “In high” means liberation from the bonds of the world, inclusion in the fullness of love. Heaven is a personal relationship. The essence of heaven consists in giving man the very existence of God. Man is in heaven as much as he lives with Christ. Heaven is a personal reality.
The mystery of heaven is beyond our imagination. Therefore, the Scriptures speaks of heaven in pictures: life, light, peace, wedding feast, wine of the kingdom, house of the Father, Heavenly Jerusalem, paradise. The inability of the mind to understand the mystery of heaven was expressed by St. Paul in the words: What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him (cf. 1 Cor 2: 9).
Heaven is worshiping God. Christ glorified God the Father in the most perfect way - through perfect obedience and through the paschal sacrifice (passion, death and resurrection). The meaning of all worship is completed in heaven. The worship of God in heaven, however, is not based on the popular imagery of people with palm trees singing Hosanna. Some people say that heaven is boring based on these ideas. Eternal life will never be boring and gloomy. Heaven is love. Where there is love, where there is true love, there is no time for boredom.
Heaven is one great happiness and joy - one eternal holiday. This joy comes from seeing God face to face. Only in heaven will God allow us to contemplate Him directly, which will be full of happiness and love. “Beloved, writes St. John, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (cf. 1 Jn 3: 2). And Jesus says: “Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ” (cf. Jn 17: 3).
Heaven knows no isolation, no loneliness. It is the coexistence of all who make up the body of Christ. It is an open community of saints. In heaven, all interpersonal references and relationships complete each other. It is the closeness of love with the Holy Trinity. It is the closeness of the presence and love of Mary, the angels and all saints, including our loved ones. Through them we reach God, and in God - other people.
Merging our whole self into God and into another human being, however, does not mean losing our own self. Rather, it means cleansing it, and thus expanding it to the limit. Therefore, the heaven has an individual dimension for each person. Everyone sees God in their own way, God bestows the fullness of his love on everyone as a unique being. “I shall give some of the hidden manna; I shall also give a white amulet upon which is inscribed a new name, which no one knows except the one who receives it.” (cf. Rev 2:17).
In the past, people talked about various choirs in heaven, about the crowns of martyrs, virgins, etc. Today, theologians are more reserved. Suffice it to say that God bestows wholeness on an individual basis. So, it is not about favoring one way or the other.
On the one hand, heaven is a grace, a love given to man by God. On the other hand, it is a reward for earthly life, for what man has done and suffered in life. Hence our action and giving, our being for others, our love on earth is maturing to heaven.
All questions will now be silent in heaven. It will find the full answer in love, in God. St. Paul writes: So, faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love (cf. 1 Cor 13:13). Only love will remain in heaven. Faith and hope will find complete fulfillment. All creation will become a single hymn of a hymn of liberation from closing in on itself, from all limitations and selfishness. It will be one great absolute, infinite Love.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george