Explaining the Faith - What Heaven is Like: What God has Revealed

welcome everybody from around the world i'm father chris aylar and i'm one of the mary and priests of the immaculate conception here from the national shrine of the divine mercy we're in stockbridge massachusetts right now it's may 1st and it's 39 degrees so it feels more like march 1st but may is the month of our lady so you could see we already have the beautiful flowers here in the sanctuary and what a great way to begin today with the feast of saint joseph which join us at three o'clock later today as we do our first saturday's devotion and our consecration to saint joseph but today as you saw on the title slide we are going to be talking about heaven what is heaven like and we know this from scripture the bible and revelation and sacred tradition apostolic tradition not man made so please join us as we continue to teach you what the church teaches heaven is like let us begin with a prayer in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen heavenly father we ask you send the holy spirit down upon us to give us the grace that gives us a foretaste of heaven so that we may one day enter into it with you to share in the divine life for all eternity and we ask all this through the intercession of our mother mary all the angels and saints and through christ our lord amen in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen again welcome we're glad you're with us so today it is all about heaven what you need to know some things that you may not but you know we're going to start the baltimore catechism states that we're meant for heaven we're meant to be saved it's the reason god created us to know him love him serve him be happy with him forever and have her heaven forever but i want to show our first slide here because the church does tell us what heaven will be like and this is the catechism and apostolic tradition it says the church says those who die in god's grace and friendship and are perfectly purified whether in this life or the next life in purgatory live forever with christ they are like god forever for they see him as he is face to face this is amazing so what does it mean to see god face to face because you know other places in the bible it says no man has seen god's face well how do we explain this you know it's interesting because revelation 22 verse 4 says we will see the face of god so it seems like it's telling us something that's going to happen and we will now tim staples a good apologist that you can trust his work good catholic says this doesn't mean that we will see god with our physical eyes he's pure spirit okay matthew 18 10 says that the angels behold the face of god yet the angels don't have eyeballs so how do we explain this well okay the saints see god face to face or the divine essence with as i said yesterday in my homily i'm just going to kind of recap some of that from yesterday with an intuited intellectual vision not necessarily with your eyeballs but with your heart with your mind your soul all right so this is what let's look at our next slide this is what was meant when we said be of typhic vision this is what we call the beatific vision all right seeing god as he wants as he is once we behold him in heaven that's the gift of the beatific vision this is what we mean now the angels what about this okay i did another talk in the past on spiritual warfare about the fallen angels a common question i got is father how did the angels fall when they were already in heaven there's no sin in heaven how did they be disobedient in rebel they were in heaven okay tradition tells us this is apostolic tradition not man-made tradition small tea or large tea but what this is is that the angels like man faced a period of probation they had not fully yet beheld the beatific vision if they had fully beheld the beatific vision no there wouldn't have been a rebellion but they weren't there yet like man like adam and eve were created weren't we we were created adam and eve but they still had a probation period and a testing and they fell and so they fell because they did not yet behold the beatific vision now once god's plan of salvation works out we will those destined for heaven behold the beatific vision then there will be no rebellion there'll be no sin so the beatific vision isn't just people looking at god and staring at him for billions of years some people think that and then looking away from him and then oh wait a minute i got to look back on god no this isn't it we are alive in him that's the beatific vision so the church teaches heaven is it a place heaven is primarily a state of being rather than a physical place now however i gotta clarify that because heaven can also be said in a way to be a place in a qualified sense in so much as in the end of time we will get our bodies back and those are physical jesus has his body mary has her body we will get our bodies in the general judgment right and they can be said to have location in a sense but it's looked upon as not in this same way we do here it's going to be different maybe another dimension so heaven is actually in the heart scripture tells us heaven is in the heart it begins here on earth father this is hardly heaven well yes it is when you receive the eucharist when you attend mass you're at your heaven and earth are united pope benedict told us in spirit of the liturgy when you're at mass the roof of the church opens up and heaven and earth are united the angels ascend and descend and then it's all fulfilled when you enter into the beatific vision of heaven so this mass is a foretaste heaven on earth so that yeah it's not heaven on earth when you see the famines and the poverty and the murders but that's why we have to pray because the mass is where we do enter into heaven it's a foretaste once we get through this valley of tears all right let's look at our next slide i want to bring something up here that's very interesting tim staples had a great comment and he said this let's look at our next slide the blessed will be in a state of contemplation of god that is constant heaven is principally a state of absolute fulfillment in the possession of god in the beatific vision the blessed will experience what cannot be put into words a radical union with god that transcends anything we could envisage and next slide and it is precisely because of that radical union with god in christ the blessed will also experience a union with the other members of the body of christ that transcends our ability to imagine as well well wait a minute father the dead can't talk to us they can't see us they can't help us we can't pray to them yes we're going to talk about that this is powerful stuff all right you know another thing some people say all the time father i will never be happy in heaven unless my children are there for instance and as i said in the homily yesterday that's a valid question all right in fact our next slide shows that this is the answer to that revelation let's look at our next slide revelation 21 4 says god will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away what's he talking about heaven now wait a minute so what about those people who are saying if my children for instance aren't there or maybe my parents or my brothers and sisters whatever it might be if i if they're not there i'm not going to be happy and i'm not i don't want to go there all right since missing our loved ones we just read that there'll be no mourning no misery no pain and since our missing our loved ones would fall under the category of pain and mourning which jesus just said will be or revelation just said will be wiped away that god wipes it away that means you won't be mourning in that sense all right our focus then should be on bringing our loved ones to christ and making sure we do get them there rather than worrying about being unhappy if they're not there don't focus on that focus now while you can i'm getting them there praying for them so we do this we do this so that they will be there rather than worrying about being unhappy if they aren't all right now let's go to our next slide this is peter creft peter craft i also mentioned briefly yesterday is a boston college philosophy professor who i was in contact with the endorsed brother jason of my book after suicide and this is an amazing man one of the great great men and philosophers and i want to steal from him if i may uh some of his writings that i think summarize heaven great and this is going to be just a recap of what i mentioned in the homily yesterday so maybe a good recap i'm going to add a few things but basically this is what i wanted to mention that he writes about that i think is great now he starts with a series of questions and one of the first ones i like he asks is is there sorrow in heaven we just talked about this if my children aren't there i'm going to be sorrowful all right what does he say scripture says god will wipe away every tear and there'll be no death sorrow crying pain we just read that revelation 24 and the former things will be passed away 21 4 yet mary shows sorrow at la salette we call her the sorrowful heart of mary wait a minute she's in heaven how could she be sorrowful this is because the more you love the more you will suffer but wait a minute father if god and those in heaven can't suffer it just said in revelation there'll be no suffering pain or mourning how can this be and if you say love and suffering are connected and they certainly love in heaven then they must suffer and you just said mary has a sorrowful heart so she must be suffering all right god is not hurt and mary too for that matter is not hurt by the fact that we have hurt them but that we have hurt ourselves it's like a good parent i use the example of of a drug if the parent son or daughter is hooked on drugs and they're destroying themselves the appearance going to be sorrowful hurting and the other example was wait a minute are we going to be sorrowful if we learn at the general judgment that some of the souls we knew are in hell now that does seem like a good question but surprisingly the answer is no you won't be oh my father how's that that's not possible yes because you're we will be fully illumined that they got what they chose they got what they wanted they would be miserable in heaven that seems crazy doesn't it but remember i'd rather reign in hell than serve in heaven and some follow that path that's why we have to pray for them now all right now next question peter craft asked will we know everything in heaven and he makes a good emphatic point no heaven isn't us being divine only god is divine which is infinite we will remain human which is finite only god is divine and infinite we are human and finite and we'll stay that way we will share in his divine life in a way we do that now at mass but we will not know everything it's probably a good thing because if you're not omnipotent all-powerful like god it probably isn't good to be also omniscient meaning all-knowing because that would be more like hell on earth peter craft says all right so we will be more like children in heaven knowing what we don't know remember when you were a child you knew that you didn't know how to drive a car when you were a child you knew that you didn't know how to work uh in a professional job like your parents did you knew you didn't do that you knew you had a lot to learn that's the same in heaven we'll be like those children knowing what we fully don't know that's humility knowing the truth all right he he mentioned and i mentioned this yesterday he said will we all be equal he says no no we will in dignity but not in in in the sense that we're exactly the same and in essence maybe not even dignity because there are levels of heaven and we will attain based on our holiness and our receptiveness to god's grace so this is a new form of pride in the world this is communism that that nobody can be better than me we have to make everybody equal now because we're going to offend them we can't have we can't even give trophies anymore in sports you know when i was a kid in baseball when i was in in in in little league baseball this is the honest truth the parent each week at the baseball game was to bring a bunch of goodies for the team was like in second grade third grade and the parent each week was a different parent was to bring some goodies for the whole team if they won so they bring you know maybe ice cream bars or or sodas or whatever it would be and the coaches made it clear that if we won we got those treats but if we lost the parent took them back home now do you really think that that is so absolutely horrible actually i look back on it and i say it really taught me a lesson it was not a crime it taught me a good lesson that i have to strive to do my best this thing of everybody gets the same award is is socialism it doesn't provide any personal incentive and so i think this is powerful so anyway here's the thing in heaven we will maintain uniqueness we need heroes and in heaven we'll have them there's levels of heaven you know you will do something better than any other soul for all eternity you may not even know it right now but you've been given a unique aspect of your life your soul that is different than anybody else you will do something better in heaven than anybody else who has ever lived for all eternity maybe it's adoring a certain attribute of god whatever it might be but you will have a uniqueness that no other soul in human history will match and god has given that to you this striving to wipe out all uniqueness is of satan justice they say is what it's about no justice doesn't mean equality it doesn't mean saneness justice means giving someone their due so it is just excuse me so it is just that i worship god as i said the other day more than a sports athlete it's people say well no no this shouldn't be that way it is just to treat a pig like a man was the example peter used peter cruft well then he said well if a pig is going to be treated like a man then it's also just that a man is treated like a pig and that's not just this is to treat differently in one aspect but dignity is equal in another in the body as i said before peter kreff says the kidney doesn't rebel against the eyeball because the kidney can't see no the kidney has a different function the kidney filters the urine the eyeball does not but the kidney doesn't see the eyeball does this is fascinating all right what about those in heaven speaking of eyeballs do they see us do they see us now the scripture tells us yes we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses god is not the god of the dead but the god of the living for all are alive in him this is the bible the communion of saints through the body of christ are all linked and jesus connects them heaven and earth why because he can he's god from heaven man who lived on earth he is in heaven and still on earth well wait a minute no father he left yes but what did he say i will remain with you to the end of time how is that possible when he ascended to the father because he left us the eucharist he will remain with us we don't worship an absent christ he's with us all right now let's go to our next slide this one's kind of interesting ghosts our ghosts from heaven and i'm finishing just my little summary for my homily yesterday are there ghosts well yes there are spirits that could come to us from heaven hell or purgatory hell's not been sealed yet so the demons can wander this earth at the end of time hell will be sealed satan and all the demons will be thrown into it will be sealed forever then they can't get out right now they can roam the evil one is roaming around the world looking for souls to devour like a prowling lion now these souls or spirits can be from heaven hell or purgatory now we are not to conjure up spirits we are not to conjure up spirits because this can bring evil we know this however that's only because of the fear of the evil one ghosts as i said can be from heaven hell of purgatory that's why we stick to the saints that's why we can pray to the saints pray doesn't mean to worship pray means to ask we can ask and communicate with the saints why because we have no fear that they're of evil that's why we have saints we know that they are good spirits we know who they are so they come from heaven now that brings up another question peter kreeft asks well what will we possess in heaven will we have things what will we have and he said nothing and everything we must detach in order to enter heaven we must learn to die before we die what does that mean detaching giving up those things that we're holding on to if you ever want to know something sinful ask yourself can i live without it you know i i mentioned that when i was uh in north carolina i had a home on the lake and uh a fiancee or a beautiful girl i was planning to marry and and a business and a lot of money and cars boats now i have nothing but i've never been happier that's how heaven will be you'll have nothing possessed but you'll be happier than ever because you have god all right learning detaching from the world is important the world can be possessed so we must detach of it is our training for learning to be detached from the desire to possess in heaven because heaven cannot be possessed so it takes us out of that desire to possess things because in heaven we can't possess things very important i said this yesterday you know the c.s lewis one of my favorite authors was asked if he thought he would possess any of his beloved library books in heaven and c.s lewis said only those that i gave away on earth and that powerful all right so our next slide here we see what color do we look at here white asked peter craft said will we wear clothes in heaven and he explained that the clothing of heaven is described in scripture as white garments look at the souls there white is the color of light which we will each shine with as much as we reflected the light of christ on earth so the more we were christ-like the more we will reflect reflect bright light in heaven and that is symbolized by white garment why do you think wedding garments wedding gowns of women are white the purity the chrism or the the baptismal gowns of babies are white so our heavenly clothes express can express to our earthly story he pointed out that things like socrates may have a philosopher's robe or heroes may wear the garment that they were you know george washington might have you know his presidential garb on this is awesome he even said jesus may wear a crown of thorns but now those thorns might be diamonds all right and then i finished yesterday with a couple last things one will there be our animals will our animals be in heaven everybody wants to know this question and i pointed out that aquinas says yes well let me rephrase that are there animals in heaven aquinas says yes but they're not our particular animals because only human beings have rational immortal souls now every living thing has a soul you've heard me say this every plant has a soul every um every animal has a soul every human has a soul it makes what gives you life so if a plant is alive i haven't killed it yet it has a soul but it's not rational and immortal thomas aquinas says so it will not be resurrected from the dead but he does say there will be animals in heaven like the horse that christ rides and stuff like that but they just won't be these animals now c.s lewis disagrees c s lewis supposes that animals are saved in their masters as part of their extended family because god brings all creation to himself in other words when he saves you if your pets are part of you your pets will be saved too so peter kreeft agrees with c.s lewis on this so i think it's very fascinating how you want to look at that so we can have hope for our animals now next will we get bored in heaven these are the last two i mentioned yesterday in the homily will we get bored in heaven now it seems like we will father if i'm just going to stare at our lord for billions of years it seems like i will get bored no because we are with god and god is infinite we never come to the end of exploring him he is new every day heaven is eternal and that means that time does not pass that's the only way boredom comes about boredom is a condition of time or time is a condition of boredom this isn't going to happen in heaven there is no time there's no past there's no future everything is one present moment there is no waiting and so this is powerful all right now that's why we can pray even today for the salvation at the moment of judgment of our loved ones who may have died years ago this is fascinating well father i could pray to get him out of purgatory no god is outside of time our prayers because god knows when we were going to make him even if it was 20 years in the future can apply those graces to our loved ones even at the moment of their judgment in the past fascinating all right then finally i finished yesterday with will we have free will to sin in heaven i don't think i covered this i didn't yesterday so this is a new one we will have will we have free will to sin in heaven good question god is both free and he is sinless so when we are perfected and perfectly aligned with the will of god we will not choose to sin even though we have free will we will have a freedom not to sin this is interesting our highest freedom is freedom to be fully ourselves and we are most free when we are obedient to god's will no father i'm tired of the catholic church rules rules rules no those are god's directive in guidelines to bring you to eternal life and that will bring about more freedom than anything you want to know what no freedom is is is attachments to addictions or material goods of this earth that's not freedom you're enslaved you're enslaved to addiction drugs or sex or whatever it might be following the will of god is a breaking of that and true freedom freedom isn't doing whatever you want to do that's license freedom is doing what you ought to be able to do so what we ought to do is worship god so in the united states of america we have the freedom to worship god and please don't let that freedom be taken away all right so good stuff now let's go on to some new material the bible says no one imperfect in love will enter the kingdom of god they will not enter heaven because god is perfect love but that doesn't mean that all flawed people will go to hell either all right we are all flawed often purgatory is needed for us to be cleansed of these defects and attachments and i did a whole nother talk on purgatory so i won't do that now but it is natural for people to be thinking about death right now in the afterlife because of the pandemic and maybe that's not a bad thing all right we lost father seraphim and father walter gurgle to the to the virus it makes us think but don't focus too much on this god has called us to love him and our neighbor here on earth this is why we already are beginning our heaven here on earth even though we're in the valley of tears it's a foreshadowing especially the mass we are to live in some ways as though we are already in heaven at least connected to heaven all right the faithful departed our loved ones who have died we may think are invisible to us but they're still connected we still have a relationship with them don't let non-catholics tell you they're dead and they and they you you you can't pray for them and and all that stuff all right let's let's look at how we know this let's look at our next slide what is this a picture of the transfiguration and jesus at the transfiguration stood between moses and elijah he communicated with them and they had long since died on this earth they're not dead i just don't get that argument what about jesus when he called lazarus out of the grave if lazarus couldn't hear when he was dead he was commanded i tell you come out and he got up and he came out even after he'd been dead for days the saints even the angels have visited mystics given them messages from heaven mary at fatima and other places so if you want to be close to your departed loved ones stay in a state of grace spend time in prayer talk to god accept the help god gives you of the angels and the saints pray for your faithful departed loved ones for if they are in purgatory or in heaven you can help them if they're in purgatory and they can help you if they're in heaven it's communication we can communicate with them through prayer that is scriptural read the book of revelation it talks about the prayers of the saints going up to the throne of god in fact when we are in the state of grace we are living the life of heaven here on earth what does state of grace mean you're not aware of any mortal sin all right heaven is in our heart starting here in this earth because god is dwelling on in us and with us and he is acting through us so the more that we are christ-like on this earth the more we are prepared and ready to enter into heaven even the higher levels there's multiple levels of heaven we'll talk about this so we also have the testimony of the saints who have a lot to say about heaven like saint faustina saint faustina told us a lot about heaven love is heaven given us already here on earth in holy communion and it'll be fulfilled in the beatific vision you know st faustina said my mission will come to an end after i die or will not i should say see faustina said my mission will not come to an end when i die it'll just begin and then here's what to see she said in the diary number 281 listen to this oh doubting souls i will draw aside for you the veils of heaven to convince you of god's goodness so that you will no longer continue to wound with your distrust the sweetest heart of jesus god is love and mercy did you hear that don't wound the heart of jesus this is why today join us at three o'clock we are be doing the first saturday's devotion and then next friday we'll do the first friday devotion and so today join us at 3 o'clock brother ken will be with us and actually you know what i think because we have less time this week i think we're just going to recite the chaplet i apologize but we are going to make reparation to the two hearts just as saint faustina said so join us now that brings me to my next slide let's read what this has to say this is from diary 592. saint faustina i learned in the heart of jesus again the heart of jesus the sacred heart that in heaven itself there is a heaven to which not all but only chosen souls have access this is the levels of heaven we've been talking about incomprehensible is the happiness in which the soul will be immersed oh my god oh that i could describe this even in some little degree souls are penetrated by his divinity and pass from brightness to brightness this is the light i was talking about an unchanging light but never monotonous you will not get bored always new though never changing oh holy trinity make yourself known to souls diary 592. isn't that amazing that's her description of heaven now she continues to talk about it let's go to the next slide this is diary 777 today i was in heaven can you even imagine and i saw its inconceivable beauties and the happiness that awaits us after death you know if there wasn't happiness after death this world would mean nothing we have something to hope for she says i saw how all the creatures give ceaseless praise and glory to god i saw how great is happiness in god which spreads to all creatures making them happy and then all the glory and praise which springs from this happiness returns to its source and they enter into the depths of god contemplating the inner life of god next slide this source of happiness is unchanging in its essence but it is always new gushing forth happiness for all creatures now i understand saint paul who said eye is not seen nor has ear heard nor has it entered into the heart of man what god has prepared for those who love him wow all right that is powerful stuff now i want to put it into even more common terms i'm going to show you a real quick clip quick clip from mother angelica and y'all remember her from ewtn we'll be doing a new ewtn show coming up in the fall from here in stockbridge us mary and father so look forward to that but i wanted to show this clip and i left the intro in because i think it's a trip down memory lane and this is what brought me to my faith that intro to that clip was that show that she did that really helped bring me back to my faith so i want to show you a couple minute clip of mother angelica talking about what heaven is like mother angelica live brought to you from the eternal word television studios in [Music] birmingham [Music] because we have to have in our mind that i want to go to heaven and i want to be with god so if it takes pain if it takes suffering this man had to go sell everything he had he had to be poor in spirit he had to give up everything he liked everything he loved everything he was accustomed to every leisure all the good food he could have eaten all the assurance he had a lot there to take him through he had to give all of that up why to buy this field but what was in the field a pearl nobody ever saw and that isn't that like heaven huh are we all anxious you know there's all kind of books about people who had near death or death experiences we want to see what happened to them well the same thing happened all of them they knew who they were suddenly they felt all their sins were before them and then they knew there was a place they could not go beyond i had to come back i'll make a bet that 99 of the things that bothered them before didn't bother them anymore why they saw the field and they saw the pearl suddenly nothing mattered nothing see if you don't have in your heart a goal is the goal of this world no because it passes everything passes so isn't that awesome a trip down the memory lane uh from 1999. now what was mother talking about there the scripture passage of the pearl of great price that here was this guy who had to give up everything even something that was good something that he loved his land uh uh or excuse me um to his money to get the land to possess the pearl and so this is what she was telling us we might have to give up things part with our money part with these things to possess something greater the pearl of great price this is what heaven is like and so that was a great explanation now i'm going to continue let's go back to tim staples again the good apologist in his work what is heaven like anyway he points out a cardinal rat singer who uh pope benedict xvi who depicted he said you know we got to be careful he warned us against depicting heaven as simply an extension of this life prettied up by a bunch of depictions of eternal picnics and hobbies um you know it's funny because i think my dad has laughed that his his idea of heaven will be hunting and fishing uh the whole time but and as good as that is there's something greater all right uh because even hunting and fishing it will get boring after billions of years right again there's no time and we don't get bored all right so each person what is it what will happen each person as i said will see or comprehend god live in god in this beatific vision as we explained earlier in accordance with their own capacity to given by god in grace at the moment of death have they been in a state of grace all right this is important in accordance with their own capacity dictated to them by how much they lived in a state of grace at the moment of death now this state of grace is determined by both the gift of god and the degree to which they cooperated with god's grace in this life okay i gave a talk a few weeks ago and made a video and some people non-catholics jumped all over it father you're talking about works that that gets you to heaven no it doesn't first of all i wasn't talking about physical works more than works of love james 2 24 tells us faith without works is dead even paul says faith without works cannot save he says in romans 3 28 that faith alone but he martin luther added the word alone all right we must have the grace of god yes that's fully from god only god we can't control that to be saved you need grace but then you got to cooperate with that grace and you do that through acts of love that's how you say yes to that grace so depending on how much you did that on earth is how big your vessel will be in heaven so everybody will be fully happy in heaven but think of yourself as a little shot glass or a great big 55 gallon drum whichever one you are both will be filled completely if you're just a little tiny shot glass and god fills it to the brim you're happy if you're a 55 gallon drum god will fill it to the brim and they will be happy what determines if you're a tiny thimble or a giant container is how you lived love god's grace and your cooperation with that grace this is why to be saved yes it's from god's grace but it doesn't end there non-catholics stop there no we have to cooperate with that grace works of love not works of the law and people get confused by this all right the state of grace is determined by both as i said the gift of god and the degree to which we cooperated with that grace this is an example perfect example is mary the mother of god she was given a ton of grace but she perfectly cooperated saying yes all right this leads us to our next slide let's take a look when we do this we'll be you reunited with our bodies in heaven people seem to forget they think we die and just our spirit goes to heaven tentatively that's true but when the world ends and it's time for the general judgment remember there's two judgments i gave a talk on this last week there's two gen there's two judgments you have your personal judgment immediately upon death and then you have the general judgment at the end of the world will you'll you'll learn everything of god's plan and then you get your bodies back now these will be the same bodies that you had in this earth they'll be the same bodies but our resurrected bodies will not die and will be transformed in glory just like moses and elijah on the mountain at the transfiguration freed from suffering and pain and able to do the things that jesus only jesus could do in the bible after he resurrected we will shine as i said with that light that we reflected the light of christ and saint thomas says this is important he says man will rise again without any defect of human nature we will be glorified because as god founded human nature without any defect he will now restore it without any defect in heaven you will have your body without any defect so let's look at the next slide because here we summarize it and we talk about our characteristics of our bodies all right i wanted to summarize these i talked about these the other day but i think it's great to summarize this is the characteristics of our resurrected body we will have identity meaning we will get our body back nobody else's so look at the first one identity it is it'll be exactly the same second integrity this will keep all of our body parts is the same even our intestines this is why jesus could eat even though food isn't necessary in heaven it's possible to eat third is quality our bodies will be youthful it'll be that perfect age like 33 the age of jesus when he died because our bodies will conform to christ's glorified body thomas aquinas said something interesting he said human nature has two defects the young and the old he said first the first defect is because it has not yet attained its ultimate perfection it's not fully grown up yet into what it's supposed to be and that is the defect found in children the second defect he said is in in the older elderly because they've passed their ultimate perfection they can no longer run and jump or or things they used to do this defect is found in the agent so he said in heaven we will have that perfect body that in between it's since it's like that age 33 now what about gender gender is part of human perfection so you will keep your gender as i said a long time ago sorry politicians you want to change the gender you can't you will be your biological gender that you were born with other qualities such as height hair color and other such things will be retained because diversity is part of your perfection all right let's go to the next one impassability what is impassability we will be immune from death and pain and suffering that's all a result of sin what about number five subtlety our bodies will be free from things that hold them back now right now our bodies constrained by space and time not later the body will become perfected and not under the control will not control the spirit the spirit will control the flesh just what jesus said in scripture we need to do the spirit needs to control the flesh the problem in this world is the flesh controls our spirit next is agility this is the one that gives freedom of movement the body will be subject to the soul so it can do anything it wants it will not be constrained about space and time can do whatever it wants all right it can move will itself to go anywhere in the universe finally clarity what is clarity the glory of our souls will be visible in our bodies again i keep going back your body will shine with the light that you reflected christ we'll be beautiful and radiant this is how we will be seen not if we're tall or thin short or fat it doesn't matter we will reflect the light that is what will matter all right so good stuff let's keep going quickly if you take for instance the mirroring apparitions did mary appear in her glorified body yes in one sense but not fully in all her glory she had to appear in a form that the the visionaries can handle and relate to if they saw her in her full glorified body they wouldn't be able to see her it'd be just a bursting light so she appeared in a way that they could see and relate to but any rate we do catch a glimpse of the glory that awaits us we talked about the transfiguration jesus's face shined like the sun matthew 17 2 this is not only revealing christ's divinity but the glory that the humanity is going to be transformed into you that was showing the apostles what their humanity will look like once it's transformed by god's divinity isn't that incredible this is what awaits our humanity we will be glorified and shine all right i've talked about this in the past what about marriage there's no marriage in heaven i always laugh some people say yes and other people say oh man because the three purposes of marriage on this earth aren't needed in heaven the one purpose of marriage is to be procreative open to children to perpetuate the race after people die that's not needed in heaven nobody dies another objective of marriage is unitive the sexual miracle covenant that's not needed in heaven you'll be perfectly united to christ and third get your spouse to heaven is not needed in heaven because they're either there or not and so this is powerful now do we believe though that we will be united with family members after this world okay answer yes where the prayers of the rites of our burial and the catholic church they refer to a way in the day that we are reunited with our deceased through jesus you know we just did the tragic funeral for mark one of our employees here who died suddenly and i did the funeral and the word sank deep at the final commendation that's part of a funeral and i read the words from the right the burial rite the rite of christian burial and it said may we comfort one another with our faith until we all meet in christ and are with you and mark forever through christ our lord amen rest in peace mark you know lazarus and the rich man and abraham that parable in luke 16 they were all able to recognize each other in the next world why are we constantly told as catholics that the saints are dead buried they can't hear us they're more alive than ever he's the god of the living not of the dead moses and elijah we talked about the transfiguration they recognized each other this is matthew 17 and of course the disciples even recognize jesus after the resurrection so that's why we implore the saints tradition tells us apostolic tradition not man-made tradition remember when somebody tells you as a catholic stop in the man-made traditions you need to say back to them i follow the catholic church which is apostolic tradition given by god to the apostles and that was given to man how else is god going to teach us if it's not given to the people who lived right before you and me in a prior generation so we implore the saints pray for us tradition teaches those in heaven know who we are we will recognize each other in heaven but we will not be exactly the same as in this world we will be glorified we will be purified from all sin and will be consumed with the presence of the beatific vision incredible all right next week i'm going to address this question in my talk but i want to get a little taste of it will there be non-catholics in heaven well the catholic church teaches infallibly outside the church there is no salvation but wait a minute father i've heard you say in homilies past that non-catholics can get to heaven how do you reconcile that join us next week the catechism says there is no salvation apart from christ in his whole one holy catholic and apostolic church but those it goes on to say that are invincibly ignorant concerning this truth are not fully culpable however ignorance doesn't mean because a person is ignorant of the truth that they will automatically be saved ignorance is not bliss it's dangerous it means that they have the possibility of salvation all right catechism 8 46 i'm going to talk about this later in 848 means that all salvation comes from christ as the head and through his body which is the church so when you go through the church you go through christ as the mediator but being part of the church doesn't necessarily mean the four walls of the catholic church a pygmy in the rainforest who's never been in the church can still be united albeit imperfectly and we're going to talk about all this so please i don't want to get into that topic now join me next week as we say is there salvation outside the catholic church now the answer is there is not but i am also going to say non-catholics can be saved so how do we reconcile that join us next week all right let's go back to jimmy aiken um jimmy aiken is also a great catholic apologist and i want to finish with a few things he said about heaven and we'll finish up with this today all right now he pointed out let's go back to the body he said many think that heaven is a place of happiness where souls go and leave their bodies behind forever we know at the general judgment remember at death you get your personal judgment at the end of time will be the general judgment you get your bodies back and while it is true that we leave our bodies right now on this earth at the general judgment they will resurrect we do not leave them forever and at the end of the world will be united with them this is what the apostles creed says we believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come amen now some in heaven already have their bodies jesus and mary right and we will join them all right let's look at our next slide this is kind of interesting all right this is common view of what people think heaven is like all right clouds and harps [Laughter] right that they've often depicted the saints in heaven playing harps while sitting on clouds is this true all right revelation 5 8 talks about the 24 elders as depicting them playing harps that's the music the liturgy of heaven you know when you hear the liturgy the music and the liturgy it is heaven on earth our mass would not be the same without brother can brother ken has added so much to the liturgy which is heaven on earth it's the music of heaven that's why it's really meant to be so reverent and beautiful and when when mass doesn't have that it's not invalid but when you have that beautiful music that brother ken brings to us you're bringing an element of heaven to the worship of god on earth it makes it even that much more filling even though it's not invalid without it it just makes it that much more that we are engaged remember we're body and soul not just soul we're both body and soul and so that beautiful liturgical music adds so much and so brother ken who's been here every single day except when he got covered has been stepping up and saying i want to help bring to this aspect of the liturgy this part of of heaven that's it's beautiful and so that's what we have so now revelation 15 2 has those playing harps who have conquered the beast so harps yeah they're real both are playing their harps as part of the heavenly liturgy but now they're not really supposed to be sitting on clouds that's really not what what we do but if that's not true then father where is heaven if it's not sitting on clouds what is it it's a common it is very common to picture heaven as being up in the sky in the clouds but we shouldn't necessarily take that literally that is some metaphoric expression in the bible but it's not totally just metaphoric there is some truth to it heaven can refer both to the sky and the dwelling place of god remember it's outside the created world so there's some pictures of you see the sky with the birds then the universe with the comets and the stars and then beyond that is god who's heaven and that kind of makes sense because heaven's not in the created order in in exclusively it goes beyond it yes it's present in the created order but it goes beyond it john paul ii commented quote in the context of revelation we know that the heaven or happiness in which we will find ourselves is neither an abstraction meaning it's nothing just an idea nor is it a physical place in the clouds it's something different than both of those but it's a living personal relationship with the trinity remember the heart heaven is in your heart it is our meeting with the father which takes place in the risen christ through the communication of the holy spirit father son and holy spirit all right we're wrapping up now we're finishing and i want to show you the next slide this is funny this is what about saint peter and the pearly gates all right we always hear about saint peter in the pearly gates let's look at this this this uh cartoon that says how cats end up with nine lives all right and there's a cat at the at the pearly gate peter's opening the gate and he says come on make up your mind are you going in or not and the cat is sitting there hesitating as you all know if you've had a cat i'm one of the few guys who loves cats i really do i love cats they're hilarious talk about independent you don't tell them what to do so here's why a cat has nine lives all right let's talk about peter in the pearly gates where does that come from matthew 16 19 says i will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whoever you bind on earth is bound in heaven and loose on earth is loosed in heaven heaven must follow and peter established the papacy in the priesthood this is peter being leader of the earthly church remember the church is the kingdom of heaven on earth in jesus absence when jesus ascended to the father he said i will remain with you how can he do that when he physically left he's left with us in the eucharist in the church it doesn't mean that he will literally be the gatekeeper that's not what peter means but it's understandable to think of it that way because christ said i'm giving you the keys to the kingdom so this is where revelation 21 21 is important it says quote and the 12 gates were 12 pearls each of the gates was made of a single giant pearl that's amazing what's pearly about them is that each gate is set in a single gigantic pearl beautiful to think about isn't it all right now once we get in those doors you know it's kind of funny because you remember that joke a seventh grader told me this one and he said father did you hear that jesus went up to peter and because he had been walking around heaven and he started seeing a bunch of people that weren't supposed to be there and jesus is kind of looking around saying wait a minute how did that guy get in here and he's walking through the halls of heaven and sees another soul that's not supposed to be there and he's like how did he get in here so jesus goes out to peter at the front gates and he says peter what's going on are you doing your job you're only supposed to let the souls in here that are chosen you're not supposed to let everyone in because some have chosen not to be in here and and what's going on here you're supposed to look in the book of life you're supposed to monitor this you're supposed to watch this and jesus and jesus says peter what's going on and peter says jesus i am i keep closing the gate to him but your mother keeps opening up the window and letting him in the window and i think that's awesome because that's what mary can do for us she can get us in the door now only only the door to heaven is opened by god or the window but mary can help get you through it all right now once we get in there are degrees of heaven various ancient sources even the bible or danto dante's inferno have multiple heavens all right in particular saint paul at one point speaks of the being taken to the third heaven this is second corinthians 12 2. many other sources of ancient origin talk about more heavens up to 10 heavens you've heard the expression i'm in seventh heaven what is that that's supremely happiness all right like the highest heaven now what does all that mean all right the church teaches as we said before and i mentioned this a few minutes ago that heaven is not egalitarian more accurately the church teaches that heaven is experienced differently by different people based on what they did in this life and how much they were open to receive god's love you have a hardened heart you're not open to receive his love so these multi-layered heavens mean that not all saints and angels are equal we like to think of all saints as equal they're not some saints like saint joseph who we celebrate today are the heavy hitters he's not equal to some obscure 3rd century saint that we might read about he is greater and that's how it should be not all angels and saints are equal and not all people receive the same reward this is why we strive to our fullest the idea of multiple degrees of heaven also leads to another common question about time and eternity i mentioned this a second oh god exists outside of time now if god exists outside of time but yet he's in heaven that must mean there's no time in heaven the way we have time remember time was created for us on earth in this universe god is eternity while all that is created is contingent so we are subject to time past present and future god is not so everything is present to god at one moment as i said before that's why our prayers even now can help our loved ones 50 years ago who died at the moment of their judgment because god knew 50 years ago that we'd be making prayers for them tonight and he will apply those graces for those prayers to somebody who died years ago no matter how suicide tragedy natural causes fascinating all right now i want to finish with just a couple last things you've heard the term a new heaven new heavens and a new earth the book of isaiah says there will be a time in which god will make new heavens and a new earth okay now we get interesting does that mean heaven is somewhere different or does that mean it could even be right here where we are now john in revelation 21 1 states the first heaven and the first earth had passed away all right now that could mean complete annihilation right of the current heavens meaning the sky in the universe the third heaven is paul talking about god's heaven followed by a new creation so if the current heavens like the sky and the earth have passed away it could be annihilated could be won't be by flood but it could be by fire and it'll be followed by a new creation it could also mean the bible tells us a renovation or the church tells us or a reordering or a reshaping of the present heavens and earth this is fascinating catechism 10 42 speaks of this as a renewal and transformation of this world quote don't kill me i'm just being the messenger right now catechism 10 42 quote at the end of time and please hear me when i say catechism because i know i'm going to get letters saying father why are you saying this i'm saying it because it's in the catechism 10 42 at the end of time the kingdom of god will come in its fullness after the general judgment the righteousness will reign forever with christ glorified in body and soul this universe itself will be renewed many people don't know that interesting now how does that tie to when we talk about our next slide the new jerusalem the new jerusalem is revelation 21-22 now the new jerusalem is the church revelation describes the final destiny of the blessed in the new jerusalem it includes gates made out of giant pearls look at that image of brother mark put it back up gates made out of giant pearls streets made out of gold and foundations made out of precious stones y'all remember the wizard of oz there's a little bit of truthfulness there father seraphim used to talk about emerald green is a sign of god and you know what's interesting mark's cousin when we were at the funeral said she had a dream and she knew nothing about this that mark was adorned in green and she saw him and he was adorned in green and she didn't know what the meaning of green was and father kaz was there and he's like emerald green is is god the throne of god and i could be wrong but wasn't the wizard of oz the emerald city and was it green was it was it i can't remember if it was green or not but it was the emerald city and we think of emerald as green the emerald city this is powerful stuff now the city itself is described as a giant cube that is 20 excuse me 12 000 stadia which equates to 1400 miles wide and tall how do i know this revelation 21 16. i get all kinds of comments when i do these talks father who do you think you are you are nothing but a make believer uh nobody knows what heaven is like we're going by scripture here i'm not making this up we're going by scripture revelation 21 16 says that it is 12 000 stadia that's 1400 miles wide and tall the new jerusalem measures are symbolic of course not necessarily physical and it says the walls protecting the city are only 144 cubits tall that's about 216 feet both of these numbers are symbolic why because 12 000 comes from the 12 patriarchs right and the 12 apostles while the 144 as in cubits is simply 12 times 12. so it's all about the symbolism of our new jerusalem this is coming from the jews but it's new christ has brought it anew so this is the church all right last two small paragraphs we're going to be done early today like the church the dwelling of god is with men now i find this very interesting when john is shown the new jerusalem this is revelation 21 verse 2 and 3. he said and i saw the holy city the new jerusalem coming down out of heaven from god prepared as a bride or adorned for her husband who's the husband jesus the groom who's the bride the church and he just said the new jerusalem came down prepared as a bride that's the church and i heard a loud voice from the throne saying behold the dwelling of god is with men now why is this important this indicates that after the general resurrection our existence will still be embodied in earthly this means that the church is a foretaste of this our church involves the body and the spirit earth is not taken up to heaven but the city of god heaven descends down here to earth and god dwells among men again please don't crucify the messenger i know i'm going to get letters saying father why are you making this up this is revelation 21 verse 2 and 3. my only job is to communicate to you what scripture says what revelation says and what the church says i'm not giving you any my personal opinion here earth is not taken up to heaven it says the city of god descended to earth and god dwells among men this is what it said he still of course dwells outside of space and time we know that in eternity but now the separation between god and man has been removed the veil has been lifted heaven and earth are truly united god and man and that that separation between them has been overcome so that the community of the blessed fully corresponds to god's will and we will experience his presence in a new manner united with our bodies on a new earth that is what the book of revelation tells us fascinating so how will we experience god's presence in this essence of heaven my last section let's take a look at our last couple slides this is heaven sometimes via purgatory right if we're found worthy we'll be admitted to heaven this is what the catechism says again i'm reading from the catechism 10 24 this perfect life and love with the most holy trinity with the blessed virgin mary with the angels and all the blesseds and the saints is called heaven the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings the state of supreme definitive happiness so the beatific vision let's finish with this what i started with i will end with the beatific vision does not mean that we simply perceive god with our eyeballs and lose sight of our fellow human beings no catechism 10 29 gives us the answer quote in the glory of heaven the blessed continue joyfully to fulfill god's will in relation to other men and all creation that's where some people believe that their pets and animals will be in heaven already they reign with christ with them they shall reign forever and ever that is the meaning of heaven god bless you my job is to help get you there my job is to tell you the truth so that you can find the path that leaves you remember the path is narrow the path to eternal life is nero rocky full of thorns full of suffering few follow it the path to destruction is wide and many are on it it has all these false incentives and and um and enjoyments st faustina said she saw the vision of these two paths and down one people were suffering and sorrowful but at the end of it was this beautiful garden with all this glory and she saw another path wide and many were on it and people were singing and dancing and joyful with all the loves of money sex and power but at the end of it they fell off a cliff so this is why my job is to help you find that path to heaven to get you there and what's your job your job is to follow that path and to get yourselves and your loved ones upon it father my neighbors my loved ones my family won't listen pray for them say kind words do nice things for them this is all about god's mercy and so we finish today talking about all of this is because of one thing and one thing only the divine mercy in fact i explain all of that let's finish brother mark with the last two slides my book please join us in getting a copy you can get a special right now that we're running on the book for any donation any donation i explain what heaven is like i explain god's divine mercy at the divine mercy dot org slash udm for understanding divine mercy or you can call right now 24 hours 800-462-7426 and get a copy of this book that explains god's divine mercy and you know what i think even a greater way is to become part of our association in our association of marian helpers i pray for you you pray for us or we pray for you the miriam helpers you receive the graces the by decree of the holy see of all our masses prayers penances rosaries chaplets just like you were a member of the marian fathers of the immaculate conception you can't beat that grace just like you were a marian priest or brother all you have to do is open your heart to it it's just like heaven all you have to do is cooperate with that grace become a marian helper so brother mark if you can put the last slide up it's very easy mic prayers.org you can join us it takes less than 10 seconds to enroll you just give us a way to pour grace upon you and it takes less than 10 seconds there is no cost there is no obligation of money or to donate if you can and god puts it on your heart god bless you if you can't that's fine what we need to do is get you to heaven how i'm being judged is do i get you our marian family to heaven first you got to become a member of that marian family for me to help get you to heaven now does that mean if you're not a mirian helper that none of this applies of course not but it's a gift of god to help you even that much more and so as a marian helper you're part of our family i feel so connected and i can't wait for the day to meet so many of you that i feel like i know you answering your questions reading your comments praying for your intentions and thank you for your prayers for us my mom god bless has got a long road ahead of her but she's talking she's lucid she's no longer unconscious praise be to god i know that comes from our marian helpers because there were so many of you praying for her thank you from the bottom of my heart i can't thank you enough and all you who prayed for mark i just know in my heart that god's mercy coupled with all those prayers are greater than anything we could do on this earth and will be forgiven and and he can enter in to this realm of heaven that's what being a marian helper is all about and when you have prayer intentions let us know call our prayer line send us put it on the comments on the videos we will pray with you we do i said i read all those comments i can't answer everyone it's physically impossible but i read everyone god bless you and i am so excited to be able to see so many of you being with us and don't forget today at three o'clock join us for the first saturdays in every first session so even if you're watching this video tomorrow or the next day or next week every first saturday and first friday join us 8 p.m on first fridays of the month and every 3 o'clock afternoon on the first saturday of every month as we will lead you through what our lady asked us to do to receive the grace of first saturdays today we're going to talk about that father bob benetti is going to give you a wonderful talk on the immaculate conception and in that he'll be able to tell you what mary asked and why mary said that or lucy said the triumph of the immaculate heart can only come when enough of us are praying the five first saturdays god bless all of you thank you for joining us and may almighty god bless you the father the son and the holy spirit amen hi i'm father chris aylor and i'm excited to tell you about the completion of my newest project it's been a long time in the making it's called understanding divine mercy my new book from marion press that finally in one place i feel gives you the all the answers of everything you need to know about god's divine mercy in fact it answers what is divine mercy who is saint faustina and what message did god give her for the world how about the feast of divine mercy and what do you have to do to receive the graces that jesus promises on this one day of the year we talk about the meaning of the image and how to pray the novena and how to understand the chaplet and what to do in the hour of mercy and much much more answering questions like why would a merciful god allow such suffering so please we hope that you'll pick up a copy of this book for you and your loved ones because if you get the understanding of what god's mercy is you will understand why jesus said it's mankind's last hope of salvation so please visit us at shopmercy.org or give us a call at 800-462-7426 thank you and may almighty god bless you you

Channel: Divine Mercy

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Keywords: Divine Mercy, Mercy, Jesus, Christ, Marian, priest, catholic teaching, spiritual, spirituality, grace, pray, prays, praying, chris alar, alar, fr. Chris, fr. alar, Catholic, Church, God, fr. chris alar, divine mercy, mary, sacraments, service, salvation, faith, death, judgment, particular judgment, general judgment, judgement, heaven, faustina, state of grace, resurrected, resurrection, glorified body bodies

Id: WJI9pOVxucQ

Length: 84min 24sec (5064 seconds)

Published: Sat May 01 2021