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By John Burke, O.P.
What Is Heaven Really Like?
A Reflection on Heavenly Rest
The first thing that will happen to us when we die, we will come before God to be judged. If we are innocent, God will direct us to heaven; if we are sin-filled, we will be punished in hell. If we are somewhat holy and still somewhat sinful, we will be sent to purgatory to have our sins cleansed away, so that we can enter heaven.
Our Scriptures are primarily concerned with guiding our lives so that we can get to heaven. They are, therefore, more concerned with describing how to live a holy life on earth rather than describing the goal of holiness -- everlasting happiness in heaven. Nevertheless, from Scripture and from nature itself, we can get some vague inkling into the wonders waiting for us in heaven, should God judge us to be worthy to enter that holy place.
We begin to describe heaven by acknowledging the teaching of St. Paul:
Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, it has not so much as entered into the mind of man all the great things God has prepared for those who love him (1 Cor 2:7-9).
With that caution in mind, the best place to start thinking about heaven is to think about the Garden of Eden. God made the garden especially for human beings composed of both a body and a soul. A human being is not a pure spirit like an angel, nor simply an animated body like a horse, dog or cat.
Man is Gods unique creation of both eternal spirit and flesh and blood in a single entity. As a composite unity we have an intellect and a will, but we also have emotions and senses, hands, feet, eyes, ears -- all that we need to live happily on earth. So, we were created with a body that had to live someplace where a body would be most at home -- the Garden of Eden.
The garden was filled with beautiful trees and flowers and all kinds of animals. Gorgeous rivers flowed through it, watering the garden. There was a myriad of beautiful things to see, many fragrances to delight the nose. There was a lush abundance.
Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and he placed there the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made various trees grow that were delightful to look at and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Lord God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it (Gn 2:8).
The first man had the whole garden to care for and occupy his hungry mind -- so much beauty to see and wonder about. The first task of the first man was to name all the animals.
But the loving creator did not leave the man all alone in the midst of such magnificence. Male and female, he created them (Gn 2:22). A woman was taken from his side to keep him perfect company. They were one in heart and mind. Perfect love ruled their relationship with one another and with God. In fact, the God they loved so deeply would walk with them and talk with them in the cool of the day.
The Garden of Eden was made for human happiness. It was a garden to explore and care for. It was a Garden made for love. In this love and knowledge, Adam and Eve would find great happiness. And it would be happiness without end, because there was no death.
For God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him (Wis 2:23).
That was the garden before the devil lured Adam and Eve to sin and all its attendant evils entered in, resulting in death. It was never the same again.
But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who are in his possession experience it (Wis 2:23).
Now if we were created to live in a place like the Garden of Eden, it follows that after God has judged us and found us innocent, all our sins forgiven by the blood of Christ, we will live in a heavenly Eden. Our body will be united once again with our eternal spirit so that our emotions will once again be in perfect control. No unruly passions will be able to lead us astray and no devil will tempt us.
But heaven will be even better than Eden, because it will be filled with the glory of God himself. The great prophet Isaiah describes Gods glory in heaven.
I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the temple. Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings: with two they veiled their faces, with two they veiled their feet, and with two they hovered aloft. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts! they cried one to the other. All the earth is filled with his glory! (Is 6:1).
The heart of our joy and peace in heaven will be seeing this great God as He is in himself. St. Paul writes: 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 (1 Cor 13:12) [Cf. Summa Contra Gentes, 3.53].
In short, we will enjoy the beatific vision, seeing God in himself in all His glory.
Beloved, we are Gods 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 (1 Jn 3:2).
St. Thomas Aquinas describes this glorious beatific vision in his Summa Contra Gentes, Book 3, chapters 59-62. I take the liberty of adapting his teaching to a less theological language which can be more easily understood by those not trained in philosophy and theology.
The vision of the divine essence [God] is the ultimate end of every intellectual substance, including the human intellect and everything that attains its ultimate end is at rest. Whoever is seeing the divine essence [God] in its very divine essence knows everything to which its natural capacity extends. The natural capacity of every intellect extends itself to the knowledge of every genus and species of powers and the order of things in the entire universe. Therefore every intellect seeing God in the divine essence knows all that God has made and wants us to know (CG 3:59).
Further we will see all this not successively, but all at once (CG 3:61). And through this vision we will participate in eternal life.
In gazing upon God in the beatific vision, all the mysteries we contemplated on earth without results will be revealed to us in heaven. When we look at the universe now, we see mystery after mystery from the largest to the smallest. We will not need microscope or telescope, but we will be able to fill our hungry minds with the great things God has created for our delight.
This vision is an eternal vision that can never be lost because there is no power that can take the vision of God away (CG 3:62).
In addition to the beatific vision of the Trinity, we will be able to see Jesus with our glorified eyes, because Jesus and His blessed mother will have glorious bodies, and our bodies will be like theirs. In fact, all the saints in heaven will have glorified bodies, bodies that will be as glorious as Jesus body when He appeared to His disciples in the transfiguration. Our bodies will be able to move and to walk; we will be able to experience emotions, but with all imperfections removed. Therefore, there will be no need to eat or drink or to propagate the human species.
At the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven (Mt 22:30).
St. Thomas thinks the glorified body will be perfect as at the age of 30 on earth, the age at which Jesus died.
The first letter to the Corinthians describes the glories of our resurrected bodies (See 1 Cor 15:42-49).
In the resurrection of the dead, the body which is sown corruptible is raised incorruptible. It is sown dishonorable; it is raised glorious. It is sown weak; it is raised powerful. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual one. So, too, it is written, The first man, Adam, became a living being, the last Adam [Jesus] a life-giving spirit. But the spiritual was not first; rather the natural and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, earthly; the second man is from heaven. As the earthly one was on earth, so also are we on earth, earthly, and as the heavenly one is in heaven, so are we in heaven, heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthly body, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly body.
We will feel the emotion of love in our senses, and we will love with our will. Love, therefore, will rule our lives in heaven. It will be a glorious love which results in eternal joy and peace. And we will not be alone with this new and generous heart because we will be surrounded by all the saints who will love us as we love them -- perfectly. Since there is no time in eternity, so there will be no limit to the good times. There will be befores and afters, but these will not be measured by time as we know it.
In addition to knowing our fellow human beings and recognizing our friends and relatives, we will be able to know the angels, including those angels that have guarded us throughout our lives, the angels we know now only indirectly from the occasional moments when we are aware that they have protected us or guided us. We will not become angels, we will always remain men and women as we were created to be, but we will be able to communicate with the spirits that God created to honor himself and to care for us.
Above all, each one of us will be as happy as we can be. Some, having weathered terrible trials on earth, may have learned to love better than we, and so they will be happier than we -- but only because they can hold more happiness. But there will be no jealousy about their happiness. Indeed, we will be able to join them in their praise of God as we all thank Him for His gifts.
