Ask Father:
This week’s question: “Is heaven the same as here?”
This week’s question was submitted some time ago by a young parishioner, and so it’s high time I got around to giving a response. In fact, you’ve set the bar rather high for me – raising the question of heaven and here.
The short answer to your tall question is: “God, I hope not!” In truth, while there are many little glimpses of heaven – foretastes of heaven – that we get right here on earth, if heaven were nothing but the same as here, I don’t know of many who would want it (forever and ever!). That’s why heaven (from the vantage point of here on earth) is linked with the theological virtue of Hope. As St. Paul says, we can only hope for what we do not see (in this case – and in fact, in ultimately in all cases – heaven).
How is heaven different from here on earth? In heaven, as Isaiah describes it, God will have destroyed death forever and wiped away the tears from all faces. Or as God revealed to St. John: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away.” Here there is happiness, yes – but it can seem overwhelmed at times by sickness, sorry, loneliness, pain, and everything else. That is why we hope for heaven, because it’s not like here. There, there is seeing God face-to-face when we will say, “Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us! This is the Lord for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!”
In the meantime, what do we do about the difference between heaven and here? First of all, we hope. In the middle of Mass, the priest invites us to “Lift up your hearts.” And we say, “We lift them up the LORD.” Whenever you’re feeling not so good, that’s a time to hope – to lift up your heart to the LORD and look toward heaven. We can always look toward heaven even though we cannot see it – that’s what hope is.
Secondly, we can practice being in heaven even while we’re here. That simply means living as a friend of Jesus, following Him, obeying God’s commandments, ridding ourselves of vices (sins) and developing virtues (good, holy habits). By doing this, we get ourselves in spiritual shape for life in heaven, and even bring a little bit more of heaven down to earth – or rather, bring a little bit more of earth up to heaven.
Thanks for another great question; and, as always, if you have further questions or insights or another way of looking at this question, please share them with us. Until next week, may God bless you and your loved ones!