 | 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
2012-02-27 13:50:59
More to heaven than worship?
A: Heaven is a place or situation of absolute happiness. St. Paul in 1 Cor. 2:9 attempts to give us some idea of this happiness, but the best he can do is repeat what the prophet Isaiah (64:3) had taught: “Human eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it so much as dawned on man: what wonderful things God has prepared for those who love him.” We are unable to even imagine the happiness of heaven. There are no vices in heaven. Jealousy or envy is a vice. Therefore there can be no jealousy in heaven. The definition of jealousy is: “sorrow over the good of another person.” Nor can any other vices be found in heaven. The bad angels preferred themselves to God, and so were kicked out of heaven, along with the devil and his followers. In heaven the saints are privileged not only to see and know God, but also experience an infinite variety of delights, with all their legitimate desires fulfilled. All our senses will be sharp and satisfied. There’s lots more activity and enjoyment in praising God than in playing harps and singing. As with St. Paul, it is impossible for us to imagine or describe the delights of heaven.
In the gospels of Matthew (22:23-30) and Mark (12:18-25) and Luke (20:27-36), Jesus Himself seems to have anticipated your concern about your husband being bored in heaven. Some Sadducees proposed to Jesus the situation wherein a woman had seven husbands in succession, having lost each one by death. Then they asked: “At the resurrection, whose wife will she be? Remember: all seven married her.” Jesus replied: “The children of this world marry and are given in marriage, but those who are judged worthy of a place in the age to come and of resurrection from the dead, will not then marry. They will be like angels and are no longer liable to death. They are the sons of God, because they will have risen from death.” Everyone in heaven will be filled with love for God and for one another. Each will rejoice in the other’s good. Therefore in heaven you, filled with happiness, can only rejoice about your relatives and friends, and be happy for the joy and comfort they have given you and others in this life. In heaven you will enjoy the companionship of all the other good persons, who ever lived, including those folks, whom in this life you might not have liked. If anyone of your present friends turns evil and doesn’t’t repent before they die, he/she won’t be in heaven, and you won’t be concerned about them.
You see, life after death is quite different from anything we have experienced or can imagine. Each person in heaven is filled with happiness, according to their capacity for such happiness. The saints and those individuals, who have lived good and holy lives, will have a greater capacity for happiness: than will those persons, who spent their lives in selfish pursuits and neglect of God. Through God’s mercy those latter sinners, who were able to repent before they died, eventually will go to heaven. But their capacity for happiness will be much less than the capacity of those persons who devoted their lives to serving God and their neighbor. Of course, those who do not repent before they die will not go to heaven! Unrepentant sinners go to hell, and in hell there is plenty of jealousy along with every other misery. In hell there is no fun, no enjoyment, no rest or relaxation, but only terrible lonesomeness and physical misery. But in heaven there is no jealousy; each person is perfectly happy in whatever capacity they have for happiness. Here on earth your husband might be bored in church; but he certainly won’t be bored in heaven. He will be so happy to be there, and will take delight in every moment. We just cannot imagine what wonderful things God has prepared for those who love Him. Your husband ought to look forward gladly to his future with God and you and the saints.
I illustrate this idea with a crude example. Let us suppose that water represents happiness. The seas and rivers have a greater capacity for being filled with water than do a swimming pool or a bathtub or a bowl or a cup. During this life each person increases or decreases his/her capacity for happiness (or for suffering in hell) according to the virtues or vices they practice. By reason of their many virtues, the saints might be compared to the seas and rivers in their capacity for happiness, whereas those persons with few virtues, but who have repented of their vices, will have a capacity for happiness comparable to a bowl or a cup or a thimble. Yet the bowl is not jealous of the bathtub. Each can be completely full of water. Still, there is more water in a bathtub than in a bowl or a thimble. The holy Virgin Mary, in her capacity for happiness, must be compared to the ocean. Therefore, while you still have life, strive to increase your capacity for happiness, which will be fixed forever at the moment of your death.
In heaven you will rejoice at the happiness of everyone, even those who have a greater capacity for happiness than you have. But you cannot be sad or jealous over others because your own soul will be completely full of the love of God. That is the perfect happiness, awaiting you in heaven.
