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| Heaven-Fullness
of Communion with God Heaven is the fullness of communion with God, according to Pope John Paul II. It is neither an abstraction nor a physical place in the clouds but a living personal relationship with the Holy Trinity. This perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity is the ultimate and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness. Heaven is our meeting with the Father which takes place in the risen Christ through the communion of the Holy Spirit. In biblical language “heaven”, when it is joined to the “earth” indicates part of the universe. As the scripture says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). In metaphor, heaven is understood as the dwelling place of God who in thus distinguished from human beings. However, the biblical metaphor makes it clear that God does not identify Himself with heaven nor can he be contained in it. Heaven id the transcendent dwelling place of the living God. After the course of our earthly life, participation in complete intimacy with the Father thus comes through our insertion into Christ’s paschal mystery. St. Paul emphasizes our meeting with Christ in heaven at the end of time with a vivid spatial image: “Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the cloud to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall be always with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words: (1 Thes 4:17-18). The Catechism of the Catholic Church sums up the Church's teaching on this truth: "By his death and Resurrection, Jesus Christ has "opened' heaven to us. The life of the blessed consists in the full and perfect possession of the fruits of the redemption accomplished by Christ. He makes partners in his heavenly glorification those who have believed in him and remained faithful to his will. Heaven is the blessed community of all who are perfectly incorporated into Christ" (n. 1026). |
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