Heaven, hell and purgatory

[JoyintheCross]

There are Saints who describe Heaven as having trees, flowers, mountains, houses, gardens, etc. So, it does seem to confirm the physical/geographical aspects of Heaven.

Here are the links to these saintly visions:
therealpresence.org/eucharst/misc/PHP/par_ba_schaffer.pdf
therealpresence.org/eucharst/misc/PHP/par_sge_carboni.pdf
therealpresence.org/eucharst/misc/PHP/par_bac_emmerich.pdf
therealpresence.org/eucharst/misc/PHP/par_sv_giuliani.pdf

 

[Todd977]

I think the use of the word “state” instead of “place” is simply an attempt to dispel the notion that heaven is a place in the clouds above and hell is a place under the ground below. God, angels (good and bad), and disembodied human souls, beings that have only a spiritual component and no physical component, exist outside the confines of the physical universe. In other words, heaven and hell have no address or coordinates in the physical universe; no telescope or space craft can be built that would give us a view of heaven nor could we ever dig a hole deep enough to reach hell.

 

[Usagi]

There might well be a place (though probably not in space and time as we know it now) where the resurrected bodies of the saints (Jesus and Mary and possibly a couple of Old Testament “assumed” characters) dwell. There might well be a place where the damned will be imprisoned eternally.

But the most important thing about the afterlife destinations is the condition of the soul that is experiencing them.

Heaven is the Beatific Vision, the direct presence of God. God is everywhere, not limited to a particular place. The Church teaches that Jesus had the Beatific Vision throughout His earthly life, so even when He was walking around among other people He was also “in Heaven” in the most important sense. Likewise, many believe that Our Lady has appeared to visionaries at various times and places – but she hasn’t had to “leave” the Beatific Vision in order to do so.

Hell is the same way. Satan is described as roaming around on the earth, but do we believe he has somehow escaped his damnation? He is always “in Hell,” wherever his presence might be focused physically (it’s weird to even say that, since he is a disembodied spirit), because he is always excluded from God’s Presence, even though God is everywhere. Even when he is presented as appearing before God’s throne to challenge Him in the book of Job, that doesn’t mean he broke back into Heaven for awhile.

Usagi