Yesterday we focused on the spiritual resurrection, or the first resurrection. This topic no longer needs to be explored in greater depth, for it is the daily path of faith, linked to the pursuit of holiness. It accompanies us throughout our entire lives, and I strive to offer help to the faithful and those seeking the truth through talks, meditations, and lectures.
But what also belongs to these reflections on the Lord’s Resurrection is the gaze toward eternity. For those believers who have remained faithful, it will be Heaven—complete union with God in the contemplation of His glory.
It would indeed be very unwise to lose sight of this wonderful goal toward which we are journeying. It is far more glorious than we can imagine, and its beauty should draw us to it. Nor does contemplating the glory of Heaven make us unworldly, “aloof,” or cause us to flee from reality. All of these are false notions. On the contrary, the anticipation of Heaven should strengthen our zeal to fulfill our vocation on earth, to glorify God and serve humanity.
The Roman Catechism writes about the bliss of Heaven:
“Solid happiness, which we may designate by the common appellation, essential, consists in the vision of God, and the enjoyment of His beauty who is the source and principle of all goodness and perfection. This, says Christ Our Lord, is eternal life: that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3). These words St. John seems to interpret when he says: Dearly beloved, we are now the sons of God; and 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 John 3:2). He shows, then, that beatitude consists of two things: that we shall behold God such as He is in His own nature and substance; and that we ourselves shall become, as it were, gods.” (Article XII)
The highest reward—or rather the greatest gift—that God has prepared for us is the vision of Himself. Nothing can surpass this, and everything else is a wonderful addition to His love. Yet to behold Him is to enter into the inner being of God. To know Him as He is is thus the highest thing that can happen to us—especially since this will be so forever. This requires our complete purification beforehand so that we may be able to receive this light. Some very gifted mystics have already been allowed to taste this “infinite sweetness of God” here on earth, and their accounts overflow with love.
The Catechism continues:
“The only means, then, of arriving at a knowledge of the Divine Essence is that God unite Himself in some sort to us, and after an incomprehensible manner elevate our minds to a higher degree of perfection, and thus render us capable of contemplating the beauty of His Nature. This the light of His glory will accomplish. Illumined by its splendor we shall see God, the true light, in His own light (Ps 35:10); For the Blessed always see God present and by this greatest and most exalted of gifts, being made partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4), they enjoy true and solid happiness. These are truths, so divine that they cannot be expressed in any words or comprehended by us in thought. To say all in a few words, supreme and absolute happiness, which we call essential, consists in the possession of God; for what can he lack to consummate his happiness who possesses the God of all goodness and perfection?”
When we hear what the Catechism tells us in this beautiful teaching on the glory of the vision of God, and try to summarize it in simple words, we might put it something like this:
In the vision of God, we encounter Love itself. It has created us, redeemed us, and led us to the state of perfection. Now we no longer encounter it veiled, but can receive divine love to the extent intended by God. There are no longer any obstacles.
This divine love now inflames us so completely and permeates our purified human nature so deeply that we are united with it. This union with God is also called the deification of man. It must remain clear, however, that we humans will retain our human nature and will not, as it were, receive a divine nature.
We will continue this topic tomorrow.
Reflection on the daily reading: https://en.elijamission.net/acts-of-the-apostles-acts-5-34-42-the-counsel-of-gamaliel/
Reflection on the daily Gospel: https://en.elijamission.net/understanding-signs-properly/