32nd Sunday: A little Taste of Heaven

There have been a lot of funerals of late. Not just here at OLS, but other priests I have talked with said the same thing: lots of funerals. So lots of thoughts and homilies about death, dying and what does this all mean.  Funeral homilies can be “Tricky”. How do we balance that sadness of death and wanting to help make people feel better, and also be true to our deeper faith; a faith in the Resurrection.  Someone remarked to me that I do not talk much about heaven in my funeral homilies. It is true. I used to and the homily would talk of doing whatever the deceased liked to do in this life, but doing it better in heaven: Golfing, fishing, gardening, etc.  In essence, Heaven seemed like a big country club where we all have perfect bodies and enjoy life for all of eternity.

Really, Jesus mentions very few times any sense of heaven. He brings up talk of a court a few times, but this was not about describing heaven, rather it was to inspire followers to treat people better. He was making the point that we need to treat others well.  In the Gospel today, Jesus does teach a little about heaven, but not what heaven is, mainly what it is not. It is NOT like this reality; it is not just another version of this world but so much better.

Heaven transcends anything we can try to impose upon it.

All that we can surmise is that Heaven represents ultimate unity with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Heaven represents the fulfillment of who we are as persons, as humans. There is no time or space; there is only God and us in God.  This union with God, we can get a taste of in this world. In a sense, it is what the Liturgy, the Mass, seeks to signify. Yet even then, even if we were to have an ecstatic experience of God, we would not know the fullness of heaven.

This purpose though is not to say heaven is like this. Rather, it is to inspire us to seek this union, to desire this union in this world; and to fulfill it.

Heaven will be as Jesus revealed; in our love for one another; in our willingness to give of ourselves to one another; in how we create life through our acts of generosity, kindness, compassion, mercy…

Heaven, the idea of heaven, will be our strength too, to resist that which does not reflect God; the violence, the forcefulness, the idolatry. It was the strength of the boys in the first reading.

It was the strength of so many of our saints.

I think too it is the strength of those living saints, those who work at helping others even now. Working to help build heaven here on earth.

So, if Jesus did not focus too much on getting into heaven, but rather focused on bringing a sense of heaven here to earth; that can be our focus too.

Heaven will be in every time, every place, in which we extend true forgiveness and accept it.

Heaven will be every time new life is born, whether as a child, or new hope is given or someone in need; someone previously without opportunity.

Heaven will be each moment in which there is healing; where there is trust in the good of others. Heaven will be when we truly listen to the other; without judgment. It is when and where we set aside our egos, our desires and wants, to see beyond to the needs of the many.

Because that is where and when God will be. That is where and when a little taste of heaven can be experienced.