This week, we are called to think on the third of the four Last Things, Heaven. I think it is surprising how little we, as modern Christians, think about Heaven. That was a topic during our Bible Study yesterday morning (funny how those coincidences work out, isn't it?). How often do you think about Heaven? Do you long for it? Is it too far away to really think about? Is your life so good here that there isn't a strong yearning for it in your life?
One of the people who has written so well on Heaven is Peter Kreeft. I have read a couple of his books about it, and find them very reassuring. So most of this weeks' thoughts (if not all of them!) about Heaven will be from Peter Kreeft.
Here's a start:
Heaven makes everything earthly seem light and trivial by comparison. Saint Theresa says that the most horrible, suffering-filled life on Earth, looked at from Heaven, will seem no more than a night in an inconvenient hotel. Saints and martyrs know the value of this life and this world; they love it because God loves it. But they lightly give it all up for Heaven. Heavenly light gives us not only "an eternal weight of glory," but at the same time a lightsome spirit, as in the Cavalier poet:
Man, please Thy maker and be merry,
And for this world give not a cherry.
