In Catholicism is heaven a literal place?

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By “literal place” I will assume you mean “material place”, that is, made of matter.

With that assumption, the answer to your question is “not yet”.

Right now, Heaven is not a material place because the souls there do not have bodies. At death, their bodies were separated from their souls, not to be reunited until the Final Judgement.

At the Final Judgement, the “new Heaven” and “new Earth” will be created, and then, Heaven will be a material place also. Humans with material bodies will inhabit it.

Until then, Heaven is a state of being, or a “spiritual place”, for the souls who are there.
 
Yes, we all go to heaven to be with God when we are ready, if we choose God. Of course staying out of mortal sin and being ready at any time is taught by Jesus
 
Jesus ascended bodily into heaven. Mary was assumed bodily into heaven. Bodies require space, so yes, heaven is a “place.”
 
I have heard that St. Thomas Aquinas described Mary and Jesus as existing in Heaven “quasi substantialiter”, that is, “like a substance”, and that their physical bodies do not actually occupy a physical place at this time.
 
In Heaven we will be able to see all created things through a sort of intellectual “sight”. We will not have eyes, but we will be able to turn our minds to a thing and understand it instantly, inside and out, without effort. This is basically what the angels experience.
 
Guest1 said:
And not just a state of being?
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Blessed Henry Suso (1295 - 1366) Dominican and German mystic

-Now, then, ascend thou on high with Me. I will carry thee thither in spirit, and will give thee, after a rude similitude, a distant glimpse into the future. Behold, above the ninth heaven, which is incalculably more than a hundred thousand times larger than the entire earth, there is another heaven which is called Coelum Empyreum, the fiery heaven, so called, not from its being of fire, but from its immeasurably transparent brightness, which is immovable and unchangeable in its nature; and this is the glorious court in which the heavenly hosts dwell, where the morning star with the rest praises Me, and all the children of God rejoice.

There stand, encompassed with inconceivable light, the everlasting thrones, from which the evil spirits were hurled, in which the elect are seated. See how the delightful city shines with beaten gold, how it glitters with costly jewels, inlaid with precious stones, transparent as crystal, reflecting red roses, white lilies, and all living flowers. Now, look on the beautiful heavenly fields themselves. Lo! here all delights of summer, here sunny meads of May, here the very valley of bliss, here the glad moments are seen flitting from joy to joy; here harps and viols, here singing, and leaping, and dancing, hand in hand for ever! here the gratification of every desire, here pleasure without pain in everlasting security!

Now, look how the countless multitude drink to their hearts’ desire at the living fountains of gushing water; look how they feast their eyes on the pure, clear mirror of the revealed Divinity, in which all things are made plain and evident to them. Steal a little nearer, and mark how the sweet queen of the celestial kingdom, whom thou lovest with so much ardour, soars aloft in dignity and joy over the whole celestial host, reclining tenderly on her beloved, encircled with rose-flowers and lilies of the valley. See how her ravishing beauty fills with delight and wonder all the heavenly choirs.

Oh, now behold what will rejoice thy heart and soul, and see how the mother of compassion has turned her compassionate eyes towards thee and all sinners, and how powerfully she appeals to her beloved Son, and intercedes with Him. Now, turn round with the eyes of thy pure understanding, and behold also how the high seraphim and the love-abounding souls of the seraphic choirs blaze up perpetually in Me; how the bright company of the cherubim have a bright infusion and effusion of My eternal inconceivable light, how the high thrones and hosts, the lordships, powers, and dominations, regularly fulfill My beautiful and eternal order in the universality of nature.

Continue-

http://www.catholictreasury.info/books/eternal_wisdom/ew13.php
 
Guest1 said:
And not just a state of being?
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Baltimore Catechism
Q. 1390. Will our bodies share in the reward or punishment of our souls?
A. Our bodies will share in the reward or punishment of our souls, because through the resurrection they will again be united to them.

Q. 1391. When will the general resurrection or rising of all the dead take place?
A. The general resurrection or rising of all the dead will take place at the general judgment, when the same bodies in which we lived on earth will come forth from the grave and be united to our souls and remain united with them forever either in heaven or in hell.
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A soul in heaven has transcended all law including the laws of physics. Absolute freedom. Their bodies will enjoy that freedom as well, once reunited at the resurrection. That being so, the body obeys the soul and the soul’s will is united to God’s will. The soul can will the body to whatever shape or form that good requires. I’m thinking here of the various forms Our Blessed Mother has taken in her apparitions. For instance, she appeared as an Aztec woman to Juan Diego. So the glorified body may or may not take up space depending on the will of it’s soul.
 
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PO18Guy has a very good point. There are bodies now in heaven, such as the Virgin Mary’s. So heaven has to be an actual place.
 
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(Earlier comment—
dshix6d
I have heard that St. Thomas Aquinas described Mary and Jesus as existing in Heaven “quasi substantialiter”, that is, “like a substance”, and that their physical bodies do not actually occupy a physical place at this time.)

I wonder if you (or anyone) could give me a citation for this, an idea I have not come across before. It would be interesting to knew if this is true (or not). --Though this is the sort of thing we will learn ourselves in heaven.
If course, Jesus himself appeared after his resurrection, and St. Thomas the Apostle put his hand in the wound of Jesus in his side, showing that Jesus was physically present with the body they knew.
 
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