The Fourth Last Thing: Heaven
Heaven is the final end for which man was created — the eternal, conscious, personal possession of God through the Beatific Vision. It is the goal of every Sacrament, every prayer, every act of virtue.
“Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him.” — 1 Cor. 2:9 (DRB)
Heaven is the final end for which man was created. It is not a state of mind, not a feeling of peace, not a vague cosmic unity. It is a place and a state — the eternal, conscious, personal possession of God through the Beatific Vision. It is the goal of every Sacrament, every prayer, every act of virtue. Everything the Church does exists to get souls there.
The Beatific Vision
The essence of Heaven is the Beatific Vision: the direct, immediate, intuitive knowledge of God as He is in Himself — Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This is not mediated through images, concepts, or created representations. The intellect of the blessed sees God face to face, without any intermediary.
Pope Benedict XII defined this solemnly in Benedictus Deus (1336): the souls of the blessed “have seen and see the divine essence with an intuitive vision, and even face to face, without the mediation of any creature… and that the divine essence thus seen and enjoyed makes them truly blessed and gives them eternal life and rest.”
This is the doctrine. The blessed see God. Not a symbol of God. Not an effect of God. God Himself — the infinite, eternal, incomprehensible Trinity — is known directly by the created intellect, elevated by the light of glory (lumen gloriae).
St. Thomas Aquinas explains that the light of glory is a supernatural gift that strengthens the created intellect to receive what it could never attain by nature. No creature — not even an angel — can see God by its own natural power. The light of glory is absolutely necessary, and it is given by God gratuitously to the blessed.
The Beatific Vision surpasses all natural understanding. No earthly experience, no human pleasure, no created beauty can approximate it. Every joy known in this life is a shadow — a faint participation in the goodness of God. In Heaven, the source itself is possessed. The thirst that drives every human desire is finally and permanently satisfied. “Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee” (St. Augustine, Confessions).
The Degrees of Glory
Not all the blessed enjoy Heaven in the same degree. This is defined doctrine. The Council of Florence (1439) teaches that the blessed “clearly behold the triune God as He is, yet one person more perfectly than another according to the difference of their merits.”
Heaven is not egalitarian. The soul that loved God more ardently, practiced virtue more heroically, and merited more grace in this life sees God more perfectly than the soul that barely squeezed through. The Blessed Virgin sees God more perfectly than any saint. The martyrs, the doctors, the confessors — each according to his merit.
Yet every soul in Heaven is perfectly happy. This is not a contradiction. Each vessel is filled to capacity, though the vessels differ in size. The soul with lesser glory does not envy the soul with greater glory, because envy is impossible where charity is perfected. Each soul possesses all the happiness it can hold.
Our Lord teaches this: “In my Father’s house there are many mansions” (John 14:2, DRB). The “many mansions” are the varying degrees of glory, each perfectly suited to the soul that inhabits it.
This doctrine is a powerful incentive. The degree of your glory in Heaven is being determined now — by how you live, how you pray, how you love, how you suffer, and how faithfully you use the graces God gives you. Every act of charity performed in the state of grace increases your eternal reward. Nothing done for God is wasted.
The Resurrection of the Body
Heaven is not purely spiritual. At the General Judgment, the bodies of the blessed will be raised and reunited with their souls. The whole man — body and soul — will share in eternal glory.
The Apostles’ Creed professes: “I believe in the resurrection of the body.” The Council of Trent affirmed this as an article of faith. St. Paul teaches it extensively in 1 Corinthians 15: “It is sown in corruption, it shall rise in incorruption. It is sown in dishonour, it shall rise in glory. It is sown in weakness, it shall rise in power. It is sown a natural body, it shall rise a spiritual body” (1 Cor. 15:42–44, DRB).
Catholic theology identifies four qualities of the glorified body, following St. Thomas:
Impassibility. The glorified body cannot suffer, decay, or die. It is free from all pain and all defect. Death has no more dominion over it.
Subtility. The glorified body is completely subject to the soul. It is spiritualized — not in the sense that it ceases to be material, but in the sense that matter is perfectly subordinated to spirit.
Agility. The glorified body can move with the speed of thought, unimpeded by physical obstacles. It is free from the limitations of earthly locomotion.
Clarity. The glorified body shines with a radiance proportioned to the soul’s glory. “Then shall the just shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt. 13:43, DRB). The brightness varies according to the degree of glory — another manifestation of the inequality of merit.
The resurrection of the body is not incidental. It is essential. Man is not a soul trapped in a body. He is a composite of soul and body, and his perfection requires both. Heaven is incomplete — in a sense — until the resurrection, when the blessed possess their glorified bodies forever.
Heaven Should Motivate, Not Make Us Passive
A common error is to treat Heaven as a reason for passivity: “It will all work out in the end.” This is not the Catholic approach. Heaven is the reward of the saints — and saints are not passive. They fight. They sacrifice. They labor. They suffer.
St. Paul compares the Christian life to a race: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain” (1 Cor. 9:24, DRB). The Apostle does not say “sit and wait.” He says run.
The hope of Heaven should produce three effects:
First, detachment from the world. If Heaven is your end, then the goods of this life — wealth, comfort, reputation, pleasure — are means at best and obstacles at worst. “Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth” (Col. 3:2, DRB). The man who truly believes in Heaven does not cling to the world.
Second, zeal for souls. If Heaven is real, then so is Hell. The salvation of souls is the most urgent work in existence. Every Catholic is obliged, according to his state in life, to work for the conversion of sinners and the sanctification of the faithful. This is not optional.
Third, perseverance in suffering. Suffering in this life is temporary. Glory is eternal. “For that which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation, worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17, DRB). The saints endured imprisonment, torture, and death because they knew what awaited them. That same Heaven awaits you — if you persevere.
Seek Heaven
The entire Christian life is ordered toward Heaven. Every Mass, every Rosary, every act of charity, every cross borne in patience is an investment in eternity. Do not waste your life on things that will not follow you past the grave.
“Lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal” (Matt. 6:20, DRB).
Heaven is real. It is attainable. It is worth everything. Live accordingly.
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for the former things are passed away.” — Apoc. 21:4 (DRB)