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 PiƱa 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!
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