What is Heaven like?

[cyberwolf001]

I can’t really find anything that answers the question other than super vague generalities.

Which paint a very sad picture of Heaven with the blessed being celibate choir boys/girls for all time.

An the usual line of no eye has seen nor ear heard…

 

[Mary_Henley]

I bet you were the type of kid that always tried getting into the Christmas presents…before Christmas. You shake, rattle and poke…but still can’t figure it out…
Well if you are still that “kid” try reading Peter Kreeft’s " **Everything you ever wanted to know about Heaven **…But were afraid to ask printed by Ignatius Press

 

[LilyM]

The line ‘eye has not seen’ is appropriate though - it isn’t possible to describe heaven.

Just know that no-one who goes there will ever feel dull or bored, and certainly never feel like they’re lacking anything in the way of happiness.

 

[cyberwolf001]

I’d say the Muslims do a good job of discribeing it. As do the Hindus…

An yet we have no shortage of GRAPHIC discriptions of hell…

 

[baltobetsy]

I think heaven is so far beyond our ability to imagine it that it has colors we’ve never seen or dreamed of yet. Totally outside the rainbow. And that’s only the beginning…

Betsy

 

[cyberwolf001]

This is really worring me.

On one hand hell… With alot of morbid discriptions in super grpahic detail.

On the other… Nouthing…

 

[dulcissima]

You will appreciate this book if you want a vivid larger than life description of heaven. The author uses clues from the Bible as well as his own logic and a healthy dose of imagination. It’s a great read.

amazon.com/Travel-Guide-Heaven-Anthony-Destefano/dp/0385509898/sr=8-1/qid=1172207539/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-7474341-7248039?ie=UTF8&s=books

 

[wjp984]

My guess is that it would have to be at least in part similar to how one feels while taking part in adoration. Now I am not very good about going. In fact, I’ve only went twice in my entire life. However, during those times I felt calm and just happy like I had no worries and it was a neat experience. Regardless of what actually goes on in Heaven I assume that worryless calmness like everything is fine and feeling happy would last an eternity.

 

[Online_Knight]

My all time favorite image… art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/pd–10109503/sp–B/Home_at_Last.htm

Whenever I struggle with the pain of lost loved ones or think about Heaven, I think of this print.

 

[FCEGM]

I can’t really find anything that answers the question other than super vague generalities.

Which paint a very sad picture of Heaven with the blessed being celibate choir boys/girls for all time.

An the usual line of no eye has seen nor ear heard…

When we were children (both physically and spiritually) we saw Heaven as a place to go to where all will be wonderful. It’s seen as a destination to be hoped for. But as one grows in spiritual maturity one comes to the realization of Heaven’s presence in one’s soul by the grace of Christ; it is a Presence here and now at this moment, not something that simply must be awaited for with Hope for a time to come. This is why descriptions can only vaguely capture the fullness of the Reality, because it is a personal encounter with the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity and all the glory that is Theirs. Some of what that glory entails is glimpsed in moments of deep contemplation, but even then only a few souls, such as St. Teresa of Jesus and St. John of the Cross, have been given the gift to express something – and only a small something - of the mystery of the encounter that can happen here and now and will reach its fulfillment at the end of our lives (and ultimately when our resurrected bodies are joined to our glorified souls). Their lessons are far more enlightening than the vivid descriptions found within Islam or Hinduism.

St. Therese of the Child Jesus wrote charmingly of the reality of Heaven being in the soul of one in grace:

“He does not come down from Heaven every day to lie in a golden ciborium. He comes to find another Heaven which is infinitely dearer to Him and the Heaven of our souls, created in His image, the living temples of the adorable Trinity.”

 

[Joan1969]

I’d say the Muslims do a good job of discribeing it [heaven]. As do the Hindus…

Perhaps you could give us these descriptions, in a nutshell, as you understand them? At any rate, according to my understanding of Islam, as well as Hinduism, their idea of the afterlife or heaven would be radically different from ours.

I have never heard of any religion other than Christianity present the Beatific Vision as the reward for the just in the afterlife. A paradise of natural rewards is simply not the same. And since the Hindus have a radically different conception of God, their descriptions of Nirvana or Heaven would have very limited use for us Catholics indeed.

 

[conan025]

I had some lengthy discussions about this with a very close friend not too long ago. Two of the authors that have influenced me the most about this are C.S. Lewis (see the chapter on Heaven in The Problem of Pain), and Peter Kreeft. Indeed, both of them would be among my reasons for being in RCIA.

Many of Kreeft’s essays can be found here:
peterkreeft.com/home.htm

It is all summed up in the Catechism, paragraphs 1023-1029, especially:

1024 This perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity - this communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed - is called “heaven.” Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness.

1025 To live in heaven is “to be with Christ.” The elect live "in Christ,"600 but they retain, or rather find, their true identity, their own name.601

 

[FCEGM]

I have never heard of any religion other than Christianity present the Beatific Vision as the reward for the just in the afterlife. A paradise of natural rewards is simply not the same. And since the Hindus have a radically different conception of God, their descriptions of Nirvana or Heaven would have very limited use for us Catholics indeed.

Yes, Joan; and, as St. John of the Cross presents, God is to be loved for Who He Is, not for what what pleasures come through our relationship with Him (those are peripheral to our love for Him, a love He Himself has planted in our hearts). All the imaginings of Islam or Hinduism present the allure of, as you say, the natural rewards; these reflect our greed for a personal satisfaction far below that which can only truly satisfy and which God wishes to bestow upon us, the Beatific Vision. It’s no wonder, then, that, through His Revelation, first in the Old Testament, and then in His Self-Revelation in Christ, little is revealed of Heaven except a call to enter into it through our relationship with and in Christ Jesus.

 

[katy64]

I can’t really find anything that answers the question other than super vague generalities.

Which paint a very sad picture of Heaven with the blessed being celibate choir boys/girls for all time.

An the usual line of no eye has seen nor ear heard…

EWTN’s Mother Angelica has a wonderful booklet entitled “Inside the Kingdom” which I am sure you can find on their website. When my mother died, my father sent a note and donation to EWTN and mentioned the loss of my mother. Deacon Bill graciously sent this wonderful booklet to him which has been comforting and gives a wonderful insight into heaven. Please take a moment and order it. You won’t be sorry.

 

[cyberwolf001]

cyberwolf001;1935257:

I’d say the Muslims do a good job of discribeing it [heaven]. As do the Hindus…

Perhaps you could give us these descriptions, in a nutshell, as you understand them? At any rate, according to my understanding of Islam, as well as Hinduism, their idea of the afterlife or heaven would be radically different from ours.

I have never heard of any religion other than Christianity present the Beatific Vision as the reward for the just in the afterlife. A paradise of natural rewards is simply not the same. And since the Hindus have a radically different conception of God, their descriptions of Nirvana or Heaven would have very limited use for us Catholics indeed.

Sorry for the late response. For some reason I wasn’t getting emails about this Threads update.

I stick with the Heaven of Islam for now.

Keep in mind that BEFORE starting this discriptions they tell us that what one will get is so much better than the discriptions that we can’t know. But this is the best they can do.

That said. Paradise is discriped as thus: The lowest of paradise would enter it and have given onto him ten times all the riches, power and glory of the Earth.

A palace that’s main dome is bady of a giant ruby and it’s length would be well over a thousand miles.

Lush gardens an rivers of wine. Servants and beautiful virgins. Tents made of pearl.

The Hindu paradise is similar. Beautiful music, friends, great food. The details I know of are scetchy but still superior to what we get.

Nirvana btw is Buddhits an to be honest two of the above comments about Heaven being a state of mind and a calmness are almost word for word what Nirvana is discriped as.