Heaven

[Sarah147]

Hello,

I'd like to know what the Church through the Bible, teachings, and including through the Saints, has to say about the following:


Before creation, and God always existed, what was there? Was there Heaven or is that something created after humans were created?

What is Heaven? Is there anything like the Holy Lands on Earth? Is it Earthly at all?

What is the New Heaven, after the end of the world, said to be like? Is that a new Israel?



Thank you and God bless all of you!

[Theoketos]

St. Thomas Aquinas cautions against the use of the imagination in regard to things like the nature of God.

For the sake of discourse, start with the following.

In the Beginning there was God, as He is, and will be forever even after the end of Ages. God is Love.

The exact nature of Heaven is a little beyond me, and every analogy for it will eventually fail. However, Scripture clearly states that it is union with God through a communion with the Son.

[Theologian in Training]

It was St. Paul who said it best: "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood." (1 Cor. 13:12)

Heaven is what is known as the Beatific Vision, whereby we will see God "face to face," no veil, no obstacles, no appearance of Bread, just God Himself face to face. It has been explained as the place, condition and state of all happiness. Fr. John A. Hardon in his "Pocket Catholic Dictionary" explains it this way: “This happiness consists essentially in the immediate vision and love of God, and secondarily in the knowledge, love, and enjoyment of creatures.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1027) says that “Scripture speaks of it in images: life, light, peace, wedding feast, wine of the kingdom, the Father’s house, the heavenly Jerusalem, paradise: ‘no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.”

This is why Heaven is our ultimate end and greatest fulfillment, for there, we experience perfect communion with the Holy Trinity, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the angels and all the saints, in a word, perfect happiness.

Yet, it was a great spiritual classic known simply as "The Sinner's Guide" that explains it very well: "We will better appreciate the grandeur of Heaven if we consider the infinite power and boundless riches of God Himself. His power is so great that with a single word He could again reduce it to its original nothingness. A single expression of His will would suffice to create millions of worlds as beautiful as ours, and to destroy them in one instant. Moreover, His power is exercised without effort or exertion; it costs Him no more to create the most sublime seraphim than to create the smallest insect. With Him, to will is to accomplish. Therefore, if the power of the King who calls us to His kingdom be so great; if such be the glory of His holy Name; if His desire to manifest and communicate this glory be so great, what must be the splendor of the abode where He wills to display, in its fullness, His divine magnificence?" (SG, 71)

Yet, if you want to get a "glimpse" of Heaven, you will find that in the Mass, where, as many commentators believe, we see a "dim picture" of what occurs there. It would take me too long to draw all the correlations from Revelation (Scott Hahn's "The Lamb's Supper" and Michael Barber's "Coming Soon" are good resources) but the Heaven St. John reveals is replaced by something even greater with the new Heaven and earth, whereby God will literally be "all in all." In fact, those two authors I just mentioned sum it up well: "If the old Jerusalem was built around the Temple, the new Jerusalem stands within a Temple, and one that no longer has partitions or veils to prevent access. In theological terms, this means that communion with God in heaven will be unmediated, exceeding in closeness and directness the access to God’s presence once enjoyed in the sanctuary of Israel.” (Hahn, Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, 520) “The New Jerusalem, therefore, is one giant temple.” (Barber, 3322).

That is a conglomeration of notes when I taught the class, so I hope it all makes sense.

God bless

Fr. Brian