Meditation Thirty-four, Fourth Week of October 2003

I Believe in Life Everlasting  —  IV

Begin with prayer to the Holy Spirit

Readings: Matt. 25:31–40; Mark 13:21–27; Luke 9:26–27;

                     John 14:1–4; Rev. 21:1–8

     The hope of most human beings is that there is a better life beyond the present one—a life of blessings for those have done good. A recent poll indicates that 92 percent of all Americans believe this. No sane person can hope that this is not so. No one can wish for oblivion, but sadly, some see no other possibility after death. The universal hope for a better afterlife is not the Christian hope, which is based on divine revelation in the Scriptures, especially in the New Testament. Our Lord’s words tell us of an afterlife that is eternal. It is revealed as a place of peace, our Father’s house, paradise, a kingdom and place prepared for the saved since the beginning of the world.

     For Christians the word “heaven” signifies the fulfillment of the deepest desires of the human heart, the hope for supreme happiness, which is better termed blessedness.  Christ’s promise indicates that this eternal life is something personal and individual, not as some of the oriental religions envision it, that is, that an individual must be absorbed like a drop of water into an infinite sea of being. One of Christianity’s essential teachings is that personhood or individuality are not obstacles to holiness or our eternal destiny, although egotism certainly is. The words of Christ, who alone has come down from the Father, indicate that our survival of death is very personal. “And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:2–4).

     We are clearly told by Saint Paul (1 Cor. 2:9) that we cannot conceive in this world what God has prepared in the next for those who love Him. Many artists, especially in the Middle Ages, have tried to depict the unthinkable as a way of teaching and inspiring believers. But all these works fall short of giving an essential image of eternal life. Saint Augustine reminds us: eye has not seen it, because it has no color; ear has not heard it, because it makes no sound; and our hearts have to enter the mystery, not the reverse. Since eternal life is beyond human comprehension, it is a subject of faith, something to be believed in, like the other mysteries of faith. Once we accept the revelation of God in Christ, we can move with the greatest consolation toward eternal life with the images Jesus has given us. Choose one you find most meaningful. For me, eternity is the promise to live in my Father’s house.

Quotation for Meditation

In his Confessions (Book 12) Saint Augustine addresses the heavenly Jerusalem:

      O lovely and luminous house, “I have loved your beauty and the place where the glory dwells of my Lord,” who made it and possesses it. In my pilgrimage may I sigh for you; and I ask of Him who made you that He should possess me too in you. “I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost,” but I hope that I may be brought back to You on the shoulders of my Shepherd, your Builder. . . .

     Jerusalem, my Fatherland, Jerusalem which is my mother: and remembering Thee its Ruler, its Light, its Father and Tutor and Spouse, its pure and strong Delight, its Joy unshakable and the sum of all ineffable good because Thou alone art the one supreme and true Good. I shall not turn away but shall come to the peace of that Jerusalem, my dear mother, where are the firstfruits of my spirit, from which all certitude comes to me. There Thou shalt collect from my present scatteredness and deformity all that I am, and Thou shalt re-form me and confirm me unto eternity, O my God, my Mercy. Amen.

 Quiet Time and Then Discussion

 Questions for Meditation 

1.   In the difficulties of life do I pause to remember that “the sufferings of this life are not to be compared with the glory that is to come”?

2.   In hours of sorrow and mourning am I willing and able to encourage others with a truly Christian idea of heaven?

3.      Do I use my faith to confront the fear we have of death and what is on the other side?

Prayer

     O Lord Jesus Christ, You are Lord of life and death. You alone can speak the words of eternal life. Fill me with the wisdom of Your Holy Spirit that I may believe and know that we have here no lasting city but that we seek one that is to come. In my own small way may I, like the apostles, bear witness to the life that is to come. Amen.