HEAVEN

What is heaven? Where is heaven?

Various cultures, traditions and religious have their own concepts of a heaven. Heaven as a higher place is where beings that have achieved a higher state of life dwell. It is where gods and transcendent beings live. They call it in various names: Nirvana for Hindus and Buddhists, Valhalla for the Vikings, Mt. Olympus for the Ancient Greeks. For us Christian, such dwelling of the Divine is simply heaven.

In art, Christian concept of heaven is often depicted as a place filled with clouds with hosts of angels and saints hovering around the central figure of the Trinity. Others see it as a restoration of the Paradise from Genesis. Simply put, it is the kingdom of the Triune God, where His might and will reign. But heaven for us, more than a matter of space and time, is a state of mind. It is an awareness of God's abiding presence in our midst and is fully achieved through a union with God; to be one with God. Thus, one does not necessarily enter heaven only after he dies. Heaven is possible here on earth. As Jesus said: For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you (Lk 17:20-25). It is heaven whenever the will of God is fulfilled. It is heaven when a brother holds the hand of a brother in need. It is heaven when one recognizes Jesus in her neighbor. Heaven, after all, is a matter of God's presence in our midst, made aware among us through persistent desire to receive and embrace it, though it will be a great challenge for us to accept it. It is free but is not cheap. It comes with a "price." As Jesus said: "But first he must suffer greatly and be rejected by this generation (just so He may reign in heaven)." Suffering and rejection become prerequisite for heaven, as in the way Jesus trod to the glories of heaven through the road to Calvary. 

Human as we are; with great difficulty to penetrate the concept and state of heaven, we turn to other options more accessible to us. We paint our own concept of heaven; heaven with colossal towers, embellished with gold and worldly riches. And so, we create our own heaven believing that this match the Heaven God offers to us. Relying on our strength and intelligence, we cease to proceed to our final destiny: heaven, and satisfy ourselves with the make-believe heavens we created here on earth which, in reality, will lead us to hell as damned souls apart from God.

In this tragedy, we seek the wisdom of God. That intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, agile, clear, unstained, certain, not baneful, loving the good, keen, unhampered, beneficent, kindly, firm, secure, tranquil, all-powerful, all-seeing Spirit (Wis 7:22B–8:1). For with the wisdom of God guiding us, the seemingly lucid and difficult to grasp heaven becomes reachable for us humans.

Here on earth, may it not only feel like heaven, for heaven is for real even here on earth.