 | Father Richard James Cleary was born and reared in Wichita. After graduation from Cathedral High School in 1947, he attended the seminary operated by the Benedictine monks of Conception Abbey in Northwestern Missouri. There he came to appreciate the life of the monks and, having obtained the permission of Bishop Mark Carroll of Wichita, he became a monk of that monastery. After being ordained a priest in 1955, his superiors sent him to get his master’s degree at the University of Ottawa, Canada, then to study in Athens, Greece, and then in Rome, Italy, where he obtained his doctor’s degree in Theology. Finally, he spent a year of study at Harvard University. Later, Fr. Cleary was assigned to teach for many years in Rome. In 1998, he returned to Wichita, where he served in parish ministry at St. Mary’s Cathedral and at Blessed Sacrament parishes. In 2001, his abbot (superior) transferred him to Arkansas, where he served as chaplain of the Benedictine Sisters of Holy Angels Convent in Jonesboro, and helped in the parishes of northeast Arkansas. In March 2010, he was re-assigned to his monastery, Conception Abbey, Conception, in Missouri 64433. He can be contacted there at, 660-944-2877, or by email: rjcleary@juno.com. |
Religion
2001-09-01 10:37:00
Heaven doesn’t sound like all that much fun
Question: The other day my friend and I were talking about 'Heaven' and what it will be like. She said you praise and honor God all day. It's difficult for me to understand how that's all one will do… and do it forever. I have an even harder time imagining my husband enjoying it. While we both go to church regularly, it's not something he looks forward to. Is there more to Heaven than this… or will this be enough?
Answer: First, we ought to realize that God made us to "praise and honor him all day." In this life, that is what we are supposed to do. Even in the midst of our many daily activities of work, recreation, entertainment, relaxation and sleep, our whole life ought to reflect praise and glory to our Creator. You probably do this without realizing it, so I am assuming your present familiar daily routine is not boring. Why therefore would your life after death become boring because of continuing to give praise and glory to God?Heaven, by definition is "the state or place of complete fulfillment, of perfect happiness; fullness of joy; sharing the companionship of the saints and of good persons of every time and place; in familiar conversation with God and his angels." All attempts to describe Heaven, even in the Bible, fall far short of the reality. How can a person adequately describe an intense spiritual experience, or the exhilaration of complete fulfillment, perfect satisfaction, and a soul lifted-up to unimaginable delights? Both the Old Testament (the prophet Isaiah) and the New Testament (St. Paul to the Corinthians) assure us that "human eyes have not seen, nor human ears heard: what wonderful things God has prepared for those who love him." When the Book of Revelation speaks of God's saints continually singing "Alleluia" and dancing in white robes, the author is attempting to describe the indescribable. He is telling us that in Heaven there is so much joy that it might be compared to dancing at a perpetual marriage feast. That everyone there is young and beautiful, and that the beauty of heaven in every aspect far surpasses anything that can be experienced on earth. Each person will be fully satisfied, filled with love, and free from any kind of sickness or injury or hurt or disappointment or sadness. This is the reality of heaven, and it is awaiting the friends of God immediately after death.By contrast, hell is also a reality and the very opposite of heaven. Hell is a state and place of complete and total frustration. Those, who in this life have usually preferred themselves and other creatures to the Creator, will at death continue to make a bad choice, preferring themselves and creatures to the Creator. They will get what they want… themselves separated from God. They will discover too late to reverse that bad choice… how petty and ugly they are by their own choice of ignoring or disobeying God during this life. In hell there is no love, nor anything lovely. In hell everybody is hideously ugly, tormented by physical pain and a guilty conscience that allows them no peace. In hell there is neither touching nor sex, because each person is too selfish to allow another person to get near them, besides being so ugly that no one would want to come near them. In hell there is no rest nor recreation nor relaxation; only suffering of every kind. In hell there is neither encouragement nor hope. Everyone in hell realizes that they really blew the many opportunities God had given them to be happy and free from this suffering. But now it is too late. Their pain and punishment honors God's keen justice. Those in hell cannot be helped by intercession of the saints in heaven; because everybody knows it's too late for such help. The saints are neither concerned nor sad about their relatives and former friends, who ended in hell. This is because the saints are busy celebrating God's perfect justice, as well as his mercy, which saved them and brought them such great happiness.While we might object that such strict justice seems to lessen God's great mercy, we must realize that God is perfect justice and perfect mercy. He respects the free will of his creatures. He provides plenty of guides and sign posts and good teachers and good examples on earth: to draw people to freely come to Him. But if, in the end, they choose themselves and ignore God, in the judgment God respects their free decision, which drags them down to hell. God's justice would not be perfect if he were to close his eyes to malice, to connive in evil, to not punish evildoers, as he had threatened. Indeed, for God to not carry out the promised punishments would make him to be a liar. God is perfect Truth and perfect Justice! Even if both truth and justice in this world are imperfect, still they are a dim reflection of God's inner life and perfection.
