'who Art In Heaven'

[AugustineA]

Yesterday I was thinking on the second line of our Lord's prayer: "Who art in heaven . . .". I came to wonder, what does it mean for God to be in heaven? St. Paul says "in him we live and move and have our being" Acts 17: 26-28, CCC, 28. I also remember reading in Augustine's confessions that God is all expansive, and everything to some degree resides in him. 

 

The only difference then, possibly, I thought, was that the heavens don't have physicality, but scripture and tradition seems to indicate that there are localities outside the physical world: a place in heaven where God resides, where the angels sing, and separation between the saved and damned.

 

In sum: God being all expansive, how do we understand his "residing" in a particular place? 

[cappie]

This biblical expression does not indicate a place but a way of being: God transcends everything. The expression refers to the majesty, the holiness of God, and also to his presence in the hearts of the just. Heaven, or the Father’s house, constitutes our true homeland towards which we are moving in hope while we are still on earth. “Hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3) we live already in this homeland.