May the Angels Come to Meet You

I hope you don’t mind that I am going to wander far from the readings today. I have some reflections on Jonah and the call of Peter and Andrew. Still, they are graciously stepping aside and allowing me the grace to write about heaven. 

Most of you know I came to Punta Gorda a little over three years ago to care for my Mom as her health declined. You also probably know that she died on Christmas eve morning at 2:53AM while I held her hand. I walked the journey these weeks, so many of you had taken before me when you lost your parents. Many walked this road when you lost spouses or life partners. You walked this road when you have lost siblings and dear friends. God be with you; some of you have even walked it when you have lost children. It is not a road we choose, but it is a road abounding in graces and tears.

I have spent a great deal of time praying about heaven lately. As I prepared to send my Mom on her way, I prayed to know what it was that would greet her. What is heaven? What is the home of God? 

My notion of heaven has changed since childhood. Then, I imagined meeting God at the great gate of heaven with his giant tome checking to see if I had any bad marks near my name in his ledger. Indeed, in my imagination, heaven was never a place with streets of gold. Heaven is not about the material things in life. That is only of the earth. Since childhood, though, I honestly haven’t given much thought to heaven. However, now, with a new intensity, I wonder, as I place my mother in the arms of God, what is heaven?

My prayer has given me no clear answer. But instead flashes of insight. Heaven remains a mystery, but I thank God for allowing me to peek through the curtains. This is what I see. 

Heaven is the fullness of God and God’s love. When we enter heaven, we are filled with and become one with God. Embraced and absorbed in the fullness of love, one is soothed. God’s love is the fullness of comfort and healing. All pain is gone, all insecurity conquered, and doubt is vanquished. All that limited us in life is overcome. It is a return to our best selves, a return to the God within, a return to wholeness.

Heaven is pure unconditional love. We have been given snatches of what love is on earth as we have loved and been loved. Those glimpses of love are filled full to the top overflowing when we are in the arms of God. His love is infinitely more significant than any love we can begin to imagine. Heaven is where we know the completeness of other’s love for us and our love for others. 

Heaven is passionate, dynamic love. Heaven is high energy and demonstrative. It is unrestrained love flowing like a river. There is nothing passive about the love of God. From the beginning of time, God’s love has been active and involved in the life of His creation. When one passes from this life to the next, the power of God’s love explodes from within us and covers the earth. It embraces with tenderness those we have loved in this world. I am coming to think that Saint Thérèse was onto something when she said she would spend her heaven doing good for those on earth. Perhaps that is what we all will do. Love is dynamic and active and must be doing good. This is the very essence of love.

Heaven is home. With wonder and comfort, we know we are home when we can see God face to face. The striving of our hearts on this earth for completeness, for wholeness, for serenity is fulfilled. We are finally at home.

As I held my Mom’s hand, it is not so much that I felt her slipping away, but instead, I experienced the hand of God replacing my hand. He whispered in my ear, “Rest now, good and faithful servant, I have her, I will take it from here.”

In God’s Unending Love,

Gwen