Each time we recite the Creed, we profess, “We believe in one God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” Heaven then designates both the firmament of creation and God’s dwelling place. Scholars even debate whether the word heaven derives from the Hebrew root ham, meaning “to cover” (as in the case of a firmament above the sky) or from himin, meaning “home” (God’s dwelling place). Either way, Sacred Scripture supports both meanings.
Nevertheless, we focus on heaven as the dwelling place of God. In faith, each of us looks to our ultimate union with God in heaven. Jesus in the Beatitudes exhorted His followers, “Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is great in heaven” (Matthew 5:12). At the Last Supper, the night before His own death, our Lord comforted the apostles: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Have faith in God and in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places; otherwise, how could I have told you that I was going to prepare a place for you?” (John 14:1-2). By His passion, death, and resurrection, Christ atoned for sin and opened the gates of heaven for us. Therefore, St. Paul wrote, “We know that when the earthly tent in which we dwell is destroyed, we have a dwelling provided for us by God, a dwelling in the heavens, not made by hands but to last forever” (II Corinthians 5:1).
Interestingly, the Book of Revelation provided a physical description of heaven: the New Jerusalem with walls of jasper, gates of pearls, and streets of gold. However, we must be mindful that such imagery conveys the inexpressible, incomprehensible beauty of heaven rather than intends to be a literal description.
Moving beyond the “place” of heaven, Sacred Scripture also emphasizes heaven as the state of existence for the soul– perfect happiness in union with God and with all of the saints and angels. Heaven is identified as “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Hebrews 12:22). The quality of life in heaven is described as “everlasting life” (Matthew 19:16), “the joy of the Lord” (Matthew 25:21), “the crown of life” (James 1:12), “a crown of glory” (I Peter 5:4) and “the wealth of His glorious heritage” (Ephesians 1:18). Here is a blessed community of those who have loyally served the Lord in this life and now have been perfectly incorporated into His mystical body, continuing to fulfill His will. However, even these descriptions cannot fully capture the blessedness of heaven: “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him” (I Corinthians 2:9). Little wonder St. Paul said, “I long to be freed from this life and to be with Christ, for that is the far better thing” (Philippians 1:23).
Here in heaven, one enjoys the beatific vision, seeing God as He is “face to face.” Again St. Paul wrote, “Now we see indistinctly, as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face” (I Corinthians 13:12). Pope Benedict XII (1336) defined in Benedictus Deus, “The souls of all the saints… and other faithful who have died after receiving Christ’s holy baptism (provided they were not in need of purification when they died,… or, if they then did need or will need some purification, when they have been purified after death,…) already before they take up their bodies again and before the general judgment… have been, are, and will be in heaven, in the heavenly Kingdom and celestial paradise with Christ, joined to the company of the holy angels. Since the Passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, these souls have seen and do see the divine essence with an intuitive vision, and even face to face, without the mediation of any creature.”
St. Ambrose (d. 397) conveyed the beatific vision in less complicated language: “How great will your glory and happiness be, to be allowed to see God, to be honored with sharing the joy of salvation and eternal light with Christ your Lord and God,… to delight in the joy of immortality in the Kingdom of heaven with the righteous and God’s friends.”
However, in no way does the enjoyment of the beatific vision mean to imply some static existence. Archbishop Fulton Sheen stated, “…It is the mystery of the Trinity which gives the answer to the quest for our happiness and the meaning of Heaven. Heaven is not a place where there is the mere vocal repetition of alleluias or the monotonous fingering of harps. Heaven is a place where we find the fullness of all the fine things we enjoy on this earth. Heaven is a place where we find in its plentitude those things which slake the thirst of hearts, satisfy the hunger of starving minds, and give rest to unrequited love. Heaven is the communion with perfect Life, perfect Truth, and perfect Love” (The Divine Romance). In essence, the soul in heaven still fulfills the will of God and lives, in the fullest sense of the term, with God in a union of love.
The Catechism summarized this discussion well: “This perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity– this communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels, and all the blessed– is called ‘heaven.’ Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness” (#1024). With God’s grace, we must strive continually to convert our lives and grow in holiness, so that one day we too may enter into the heavenly rest of the Lord.