Reflection from Fr. David: Heaven is Fullness of Communion with God

Heaven as the fullness of communion with God. Heaven is not an abstraction or a physical place, but a living and personal relationship with the Holy Trinity.It is our meeting with the Father which takes place in the risen Christ through the communion of the Holy Spirit.

When this earthly form has passed, those who have welcomed God into their lives and sincerely opened themselves to His love, at least at the time of death, will enjoy the fullness of communion with God that is the goal of human life.

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, "this perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity this communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed is called "heaven'. Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfilment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness" (n.1024).

Today we will try to understand the biblical meaning of "heaven", in order to have a better understanding of the reality to which this expression refers.

In biblical language "heaven"", when it is joined to the "earth", indicates part of the universe. Scripture says about creation: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gn 1:1).

Metaphorically, heaven is understood as the dwelling place of God, which is thus distinguished from human beings (cf. Ps 104:2f.; 115:16; Is 66:1). The depiction of heaven as the transcendent dwelling-place of the living God is joined with that of the place to which believers, through grace, can also ascend, as we see in the Old Testament accounts of Enoch (cf. Gn 5:24) and Elijah (cf. 2 Kgs 2:11). Thus heaven becomes an image of life in God.

The New Testament confirms the idea of heaven in relation to the mystery of Christ. Because believers are loved in a special way by the Father, they are raised with Christ and become citizens of heaven. It is worthwhile listening to what the Apostle Paul tells us about this in a very powerful text: "God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Eph 2:4-7). The fatherhood of God, who is rich in mercy, is experienced by creatures through the love of God's crucified and risen Son, who sits in heaven on the right hand of the Father as Lord.

After our earthly life, participation in complete intimacy with the Father thus comes through our participation into Christ's paschal mystery. St Paul emphasizes our meeting with Christ in heaven at the end of time with a vivid visual image: "Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words" (1 Thes 4:17-18).