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By Maximilian Watner
Guest Columnist

If a kindergarten teacher asked a little boy to learn his ABCs so that one day he could attend Harvard, that would be meaningless to the poor child who just wanted to get outside and throw a football. He really couldn’t imagine Harvard, so it wouldn’t be a motivation for him to master his letters.

Last week we celebrated Ascension Thursday, when Christ returned to Heaven forty days after His Resurrection. We should desire Heaven, but are we like the kindergartner, who understands so little about the goal that it’s not even attractive? Truly wanting Heaven is one of the special gifts Jesus offers during the time we celebrate His Ascension. That desire is important because if we want something badly enough, we are willing to sacrifice for it; and we must sacrifice to get to Heaven.  No one gets there by accident. However, it’s not a matter of forcing ourselves to feel a certain way about Heaven. In reality, the longing for Heaven is based in Faith and a special grace from Christ, but we also have to put a little “skin in the game” by learning something about what Heaven actually is.

The day will come when each of us will be judged. If Christ looks upon us and finds His love within our souls, He will say, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you” (Matthew 25:34). Then will come the single greatest moment of our entire existence. We will open our eyes, the eyes of our soul, and we will see God, and seeing Him, we will know Him, completely and fully, as He is in Himself. In knowing Him, we will know all things: all questions answered, all problems resolved. We will love Him entirely, intensely, unceasingly, forever. Our questions and desires will finally rest in knowing and loving Him for eternity.

We have all heard that in Heaven, tears will be wiped away, and that we will be perfectly happy seeing God. But it’s hard to imagine, of course, and sounds a little dry. How could we contemplate God for literally an eternity and not get bored? Maybe it will help to look at it this way: what are the things we seek that make us happy on earth? Remember the times you were happiest in your life, most free of pain and worry, or when you felt lightest and most hopeful. Remember the happiness surging through your heart when a stranger went out of his way to be kind to you. Good food, perfect weather, and the delight of childhood Christmases are but shadows of the happiness of heaven. God is like all those little bits of goodness added up and multiplied to infinity. Anything good that we see in our lives, or in nature, or in other people is a hint of what God has in the highest degree, without any shadow of imperfection. 

Now that’s worth fighting for.

BROTHER MAXIMILIAN WATNER is on the staff at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Buckingham County. He can be reached at webmaster@stas.org.