Picture Paradise

Spending eternity doing good on earth

10/01/2019

Matthew 18:1-4 The disciples approached Jesus and said, "Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?" He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven."

Do you spend much time thinking about heaven? Probably the older we get the more we ponder it because we feel we stand on the threshold of eternity, and any minute, someone may shove us into the house of heaven. We wonder what’s on the inside. When we try to picture paradise, most people probably think of a Sandals Resort commercial. We’re sitting on a sun-drenched beach, we have super-model bodies, and our favorite drink in hand, being waiting on hand and foot, and without a care in the world.

Now, that’s not a bad picture, but our faith offers us a much better picture, namely, the Beatific Vision. What is the Beatific Vision? Put simply, it is seeing God face to face and experiencing eternal beatitude, which is both blessing and happiness combined. If you are a mother or father, imagine how you felt looking into the face of your newborn baby. Didn’t you want to stay there forever and freeze that moment eternally? Now, multiply that feeling of joy and peace by a billion, and you’re starting to get close to the Beatific Vision. That’s what all the saints up and down the centuries have longed for: to get to heaven and behold God’s Face, the Beatific Vision.

Today is the Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, also known as St. Therese of the Child Jesus, also known as “the Little Flower,” also known as the patron saint of missionaries, also known as a “doctor of the Church.” But when she entered the Carmelite convent in France at the age of 15, do you know what name she took as a professed religion nun? She took the rather lengthy name of “Sr. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face.” In other words, St. Therese wanted to start contemplating the Beatific Vision, as much as humanly possible, while still here on earth. And she could see the Holy Face of God in her family, and in her sisters in the Carmelite convent, and even in her sufferings as she lie dying of tuberculosis at the age of 24. St. Therese of Lisieux’s picture of paradise was not being pampered with a full-body massage at a Sandals Resort but rather seeing the Beatific Vision, and she got to glimpse it even before she got to heaven.

One of St. Therese’s most famous dictums, or sayings, was she promised: “When I get to heaven, I will spend my eternity doing good on earth.” That is the net effect of the Beatific Vision: it makes you explode with love not only for God, but also for others. In other words, when you get to heaven, you don’t just forget all your family and friends, you won’t even forget your foes or your enemies on earth. On the contrary, you will love them even more perfectly than you ever could on while you were alive on earth, that is, free from all selfishness, jealousy, pride, ego, vanity and lust. The Church calls that perfect love of neighbor we experience in eternity by this great phrase: the Communion of Saints. The Communion of Saints is nothing other than the perfect fulfillment of the commandment to love your neighbor.

Do you know what was one of the “good things” that St. Therese did after she got to heaven? She inspired Pope Francis in 2015 to canonize her parents, Louis Martin and Marie Azelie Guerin as saints. That was the first time in the history of the Church that a pope has canonized spouses as a married couple at the same time. Canonization means St. Therese’s parents are in heaven, and all three – parents and daughter – are staring at the Face of God, the Beatific Vision.

How do you picture paradise? Sitting on a sandy beach with a Piña Colada in your hand, enjoying an eternal retirement? Or, as the Beatific Vision, beholding God Face to face, like staring into the face of your beautiful baby sleeping in your arms? How we think about heaven makes a big difference in how we live on earth. It will also make a big difference how we live in heaven.

Praised be Jesus Christ!