“[God] will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away” (Rev 21:4).
We would be poor men if we were to focus only on our brief earthly life and not perceive the eschatological dimension of our holy faith, which assures us that our Father is waiting for us and that, in His goodness, He has foreseen eternal life for His children.
It is precisely this vision of eternity, and the expectation of the glorious joy of seeing God face to face in communion with His own, that leads us to the realism of faith and gives us the strength to persevere in our pilgrimage through this “valley of tears”, as messengers of God’s love.
Our Father will hold us in His arms and be our consolation, already here on earth and even more fully in heaven. Then “the former things have passed away”: the tears of pain and suffering will have been wiped away, and the accuser who accused us before our God day and night will have been cast down (cf. Rev 12:10). All our toil will be over, and all that we have endured for the Lord’s sake will be rewarded forever.
What a joy it will be for our Father to have us with Him forever and to be able to give us all that He has prepared for us, especially Himself! Heaven rejoices over every person who turns from his evil ways and comes to life. What joy when, by God’s grace, he finally reaches eternity!
Someone is waiting for us! And when we get there, it will be an unimaginable joy.
St Francis of Assisi, when he heard a heavenly melody one day, exclaimed: “If I hear just one more note, I will die”. At one point I thought I heard the voice of St Joan of Arc saying to me: ‘If you knew what it was like here, you would not want to be on earth a day longer’.
But we are still on our way…