The true meaning of heaven points to the union that we have with our loved ones and all the saints. If people use “heaven on earth” to describe their love, we have to realize that by seeing God face-to-face—and the total healing that God brings about within us—we are then capable of a love we cannot imagine on earth. As deep as spousal love can be, marriage is only the slightest hint of love and union with God.
Though we may not be able to comprehend heaven in our wounded state, we can and do experience the presence of God within us because that is where God’s presence is. In a way, the best vision of God is not so much looking up or out, but looking within our very selves. After all, we know God made us in his image and likeness.
Thus, we have the ability to understand the two most important aspects of God: to love and to forgive. And we are capable of both.
—from Franciscan Spirit‘s “This Life and the Next“
by Jim Van Vurst, OFM
