God is supremely present, with total attention and total love. The more like God we are, the more 'in Heaven' we are. The alternative to Heaven is not earth. Heaven and earth are not exclusive alternatives, not opposites. The alternative to Heaven is Hell. Hell is absence, the refusal of I-thou presence, of consciousness and love."
- Peter Kreeft, in Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Heaven -
(Heaven is here, now, living in God's presence. Let yourself be here now in love.)
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1ACTS 22:30; 23:6-11; Ps 16:1-2A AND 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11
JN 17:20-26
Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying:
“I pray not only for these,
but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
so that they may all be one,
as you, Father, are in me and I in you,
that they also may be in us,
that the world may believe that you sent me.
And I have given them the glory you gave me,
so that they may be one, as we are one,
I in them and you in me,
that they may be brought to perfection as one,
that the world may know that you sent me,
and that you loved them even as you loved me.
Father, they are your gift to me.
I wish that where I am they also may be with me,
that they may see my glory that you gave me,
because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
Righteous Father, the world also does not know you,
but I know you, and they know that you sent me.
I made known to them your name and I will make it known,
that the love with which you loved me
may be in them and I in them.”
Reflection on the Scriptures |
With Ascension Day just a short week ago and Pentecost next Sunday, the Gospel reading from John that started our Easter journey resonated with me. In the reading John details Jesus’ prayer, often called his High Priestly Prayer, that he prayed just before entering the Garden of Gethsemane and his looming crucifixion.
In many ways the prayer reminded me of a death bed soliloquy. But there was one major distinction. Most deathbed prayers are about the wrongs we have done in our lives, but Jesus’ prayer was not about misdeeds that were never corrected or expressions of love that were never shared, but rather, an affirmation of the fulfillment of his mission on earth.
As Jesus said in the prayer, through his tireless efforts, it was not just the disciples who came to believe in his words but the throngs who followed him, so that all may be brought to perfection and to realize that God loved them just as he loved his Son. His prayer ends with the wonderful line, I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved
me may be in them and I in them. Talk about a job well done, this was it.
- by Chas Kestermeier, S.J.
Revelations of Divine Love
- by Julian of Norwich
Sixteenth Revelation, Chapter 75
"We shall see verily the cause of all things that He hath done; and evermore we shall see the cause of all things that He hath permitted."
I saw three manners of longing in God, and all to one end; of which we have the same in us, and by the same virtue and for the same end.
The first is, that He longeth to teach us to know Him and love Him evermore, as it is convenient and speedful to us. The second is, that He longeth to have us up to His Bliss, as souls are when they are taken out of pain into Heaven. The third is to fulfill us in bliss; and that shall be on the Last Day, fulfilled ever to last. For I saw, as it is known in our Faith, that the pain and the sorrow shall be ended to
all that shall be saved. And not only we shall receive the same bliss that souls afore have had in heaven, but also we shall receive a new [bliss], which plenteously shall be flowing out of God into us and shall fulfill us; and these be the goods which He hath ordained to give us from without beginning. These goods are treasured and hid in Himself; for unto that time [no] Creature is mighty nor worthy to receive them.
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