Heaven - Cardinal Bacci

Heaven

1. Faith teaches us that the soul which is in the state of grace and has expiated all the temporal punishments due to its sins, goes immedia...tely to Heaven when it is separated from the body. There the soul enjoys eternal happiness. It sees God face to face. It sees Him without any intervention of created things, but as He is in Himself in the Unity and Trinity of His infinite perfections.

In this beatific vision the intellect remains completely satisfied, because in God there is every truth, beauty and goodness. The will abandons itself entirely to the will of God, desiring nothing else and loving nothing else but God alone. There springs from this abandonment a love which satisfies every desire, an inexpressible joy and a boundless peace. The happy soul will see the Blessed Virgin, too, and she will smile upon it with maternal tenderness. It will see the Angels and Saints gathered around the King of Kings and the Queen of Heaven, singing their praises. St. Paul, who was taken up to the third Heaven, tells us that it is impossible to imagine or to describe the unknown joys which are experienced there. In comparison with the eternal happiness of Heaven, the poor pleasures of this world are empty shadows. We cannot imagine the happiness of those who have gained Heaven by their good lives upon earth. The concept of Heaven is so beautiful and immense that it caused the Saints to desire death as a means of going there. They welcomed suffering, too, because it brought them nearer to their goal.

2. Our souls have an innate desire to be happy. God Himself has placed this desire in our hearts. What else are we doing all our lives but trying by every possible means to be happy? Unfortunately, we seek happiness where it is not to be found. Some seek it in material gain, others in honours, others in pleasure. But our hearts are much wider than the riches and honours and pleasures of this world. In comparison with the riches of the human spirit, worldly wealth is a very insignificant thing. Worldly honours are shadows which pass. As the "Imitation of Christ" reminds us, we are what we are before God, not what we appear before men. (Bk. III, Chapter 50:8) Pleasure also passes quickly, and when it is immoderate it leaves in our hearts a sense of emptiness and disgust. St. Augustine had a good deal of experience of the deceptiveness and complexity of human happiness. He had reason to exclaim: “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless except in You. (Confessions, II, 2:4) We should follow the example of the Saints and aim at Heaven in everything we do. This should be the goal of our earthly journey. We should make sure that all our actions are in conformity with the will of God and directed towards this end.

3. God desires our salvation. “God wishes all men to be saved.” (1 Tim. 2:4) We are all aspirants of Heaven. We shall not be denied the grace of God so long as we ask for it with confidence and perseverance. St. Augustine tells us that Paradise is ours if we wish: “You are not called to embrace the earth, but to prepare yourselves for Heaven; not to be the successes of this world nor to a short-lived and transient prosperity, but to eternal life together with the Angels.” (Serm. 296, 6:7)
Contemplate this true and everlasting happiness. Let us direct towards it our intentions and desires and all our work. Then the day will come when we shall be really happy for all eternity.

Two Paths to Heaven - Cardinal Bacci

Two Paths to Heaven

1. The first road to Heaven is the way of innocence. There are some generous souls who preserve till the end of life their original baptismal purity. St. Aloysius Gonzaga never ceased to repent of two small faults for which he could hardly be held responsible since he committed them in the ignorance of early childhood. Having lived like an angel in human form, he died with a smile on his lips murmuring that he was happy to be going to Heaven at last.

In more recent times there was the lovable boy saint, Dominic Savio. On the day of his first Holy Communion he made the resolution “Death rather than sin,” a resolution to which he remained faithful throughout his innocent young life.

Throughout its history the Church could boast of many other members like these who reflected the absolute purity and perfection of its divine Head and Founder. It should be our desire to possess this innocence, so that we may be pure and holy in the sight of God and may remain always close to Him. Sin is ugly. It deprives us of God, our only true good, and makes us unhappy, because the sinner can never be at peace. It makes us restless and remorseful during life, and when we come to die, unless God’s mercy intervenes, it causes us to despair of salvation. Let us jealously guard our state of innocence, keeping it intact by fervent prayer and meditation.

2. If we have been unfortunate enough to have lost our baptismal innocence by falling into sin, we should not be discouraged. God’s mercy opens another way for us, the way of penance. “I have come,” Jesus tells us, “to call sinners, not the just.” (Mt. 9:13)

Our divine Redeemer foresaw in the Garden of Gethsemane all our sins and acts of ingratitude. Nevertheless, He offered Himself as a victim of expiation on our behalf, and shed His Precious Blood upon the Cross for our redemption. How would it be possible for Him to refuse to forgive us? How could He not long to save us in spite of our sins? Let us recall the consoling parables of the prodigal son and the lost sheep. If we feel that we fall into the category of prodigal sons or lost sheep, then let us turn to Jesus for forgiveness.

3. This second path to Heaven, however, demands sacrifice on our part. Our repentance must be practical and supernatural. It should lead us to confess our sins in the Sacrament of Penance and to regain God’s friendship in Holy Communion. After that our way must be one of self-mortification: “Unless you repent,” Jesus warns us, “you will all perish.” (Luke 13:5)

The first penance which we must perform is to offer to God all the physical and moral sufferings which are in store for us during life and at the hour of death. Then we must add our own voluntary acts of self-denial. The generosity of the Saints in this regard was rewarded by the lasting friendship of God. As for ourselves, we should remember that Jesus Himself has warned us that we shall be lost if we neglect to do penance. (Ibid.)

Our country, Heaven - St Philip Neri

"The true servant of God acknowledges no other country but heaven."