Heaven
by Rev.
Francis A. Baker
A Mission Sermon
“Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, because your reward is very great in heaven.” Matt 5:12
I
A
Some of
you may remember the joy with which, after a sea voyage, you arrived at home.
The voyage had been very long and wearisome. You had suffered, perhaps had
been in danger. At last you heard the sailors cry, “Land;” and after a
while, your less practiced eye began to discern the blue hills of your native
country. Oh, how that sight revived you! How your sufferings and
dangers were all forgotten in the thought of the welcome that awaited you at
home!
B
Well, life is a voyage on the ocean of time; often a tempestuous, always a dangerous voyage; and in order to animate our courage, to cheer and console us, God has allowed us from time to time to catch a glimpse by faith of our distant home of heaven. Let us lift up our thoughts now to that happy land, the land that is very far off, the land that is wide and quiet; the celestial paradise, the home of the blessed, the city of God.
C
I know that we cannot gain any sufficient idea of it. I know that eye has not seen its beauty, ear has not heard the story of it, neither has the heart of man conceived its image; but we must do as men do with some costly jewel: turn it first on one side, then on another, to catch its brilliancy; and if at the last we fall down, blinded and dazzled by the splendors which meet us, we shall in this way at least conceive something of the greatness of those things which God has provided for those who love Him.
D
The Holy Scripture represents the pleasures of heaven in three different lights: first, as Rest; second, as Joy; third, as Glory. Let us, then, meditate upon them for a while, under each one of these three aspects.
II
A
First, then, heaven is a place of rest, by which I understand the absence of all those things which disturb us here. True, there is happiness even in this life, but how unsatisfactory, how fleeting! Here we are never far off from wretchedness, and never long without trouble. You go into a great city: how rich and gay everything looks; what crowds of well-dressed people pass you! Ah! In the next street there is the dismal hovel where poverty hides its head, and the children cry for bread, and there is no one to break it for them.
B
You are strong and healthy, and it is a strange, fierce joy for you on a cold day to struggle with the buffetings of the wintry blast; but see, the rude wind that kindles a glow on your cheek steals away the bloom from yonder sick man, whose feeble stoop and sharpened features tell of suffering and disease.
C
You have a happy family, and when you go home your children clamber up on your knees, and your wife meets you with a smile of affection. Alas! Next door, the widow weeps the night long, and there is none to comfort her, for the young man, the only son of his mother, has been carried to his long home.
D
And as if this were not enough, as if sickness and poverty and death did not cause misery enough in the world, men’s passions, hate and envy, lust, avarice, and pride, unite to make many a moment wretched that might else have been happy. But in heaven these things shall be no more. In heaven there shall be complete and perfect rest.
E
The poor man will no more be forced to toil hard and anxiously to put bread in his children’s mouths – to rise up early, and late take rest; for there they shall not hunger nor thirst any more. The sick man then shall leap as a hart; he shall run and not be weary; he shall walk and not faint. The widow’s tears shall be dried, for husband and son shall be again restored to her.
F
Oh, what a day shall that be, when dear friends shall meet together, never to part again, and God shall wipe all tears from their eyes, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away; when the bodies of the saints, glorious and immortal, no longer subject to decay or fatigue or death, clothed in light, shall enter the gates of the celestial city, and shall have a right to the tree of life!
G
And there shall be no sin there, no gust of passion, no reproach of conscience, no sting of temptation. In this life, says St. Augustine, we have the liberty of being able not to sin, but in heaven we shall have the higher liberty of not being able to sin. Brother shall not rise up against brother, neither shall there be war any more, for the former things are passed away.
H
There shall be no strife or hatred or envy; no wrong or oppression; no unkindness or coldness; no falsehood or insincerity; but within a perfect peace, and without an unalterable friendship between all the inhabitants of this happy land, each rejoicing in the other’s happiness and glory. And there is no end to these joys of heaven. Here our best pleasures are alloyed by being transitory; but there, there is no fear for the future. No wave disturbs the deep, clear sea of crystal that lies before the throne of God.
I
The angel has sworn that time shall be no longer, and the great day of eternity has begun. O heavenly Jerusalem! O City of God! which has no need of sun or moon to enlighten it, for there is no night there! Welcome haven of rest to the poor exiles of earth! Blessed are they that shall enter thy gates of pearl and tread thy streets of gold, for you are the perfection of beauty and the joy of the whole earth.
J
In your secure recesses the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest. “Blessed are they that die in the Lord, for they rest from their labors. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, says the Lord. My people shall be all just; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, to glorify me.”
III
A
But though it is easier to describe heaven as a place of rest, that is not the whole description of it. Heaven is also a place of joy, and of joy the most complete, the most pure, the most satisfying that the human heart can possess. Joy in seeing and loving God, or, as it is called, in the Beatific Vision.
B
That it is, in which consists essentially the Christian idea of heaven. I say the Christian idea, for our faith teaches us to look forward to a happiness very different from what we could have expected by nature. Of course natural reason teaches us to look forward to a future life, but it promises no other knowledge of God but such as is possible to our own natural powers when fully developed.
C
But Christianity promises us a knowledge of God to which our natural powers, however enlarged, could never aspire. It teaches us that we shall see Him as He is – not only think about Him and commune with Him and adore Him, but actually look upon His unveiled Divinity, gaze upon Him face to face.
D
It is not of our Lord’s glorified humanity that I speak. That, too, we shall see, and that will be a sight of unspeakable beauty and joy; but we shall see more: we shall look upon and into the Divine Essence. Now to our natural powers this is impossible. A blind man can know a great deal about the sun. He may hear it described, he may reason about it, he may feel its effects, but he cannot lift up his eyes to heaven and see it.
E
So, naturally speaking, we have not the faculty whereby to see God. “No man hath seen God at any time,” (John 1:18) “Whom no man has seen or can see, who inhabits the light inaccessible,” says St. Paul. (Timothy 6:16) Clearly there must be some great change in us, something given to us that does not belong to us as men, in order to enable us to see God, and the Holy Scripture tells us what that change shall be: “We shall be like to Him, for we shall see Him as He is,” (1 John II 3:2-3)
F
We ourselves shall become divine and godlike. The human intellect shall be marvelously strengthened by a gift which the Church calls the light of glory, which shall enable us to look upon God and live. We are told in Scripture that God walked in the garden of Eden and talked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. This high companionship was broken by the fall. Man was reduced to the rank that essentially belonged to him, and was deprived of that which had been accorded to him of grace.
G
But by baptism he acquires once more a right to that familiar intercourse with God, and in heaven he enters upon its enjoyment. For this reason heaven is called our fatherland. It is our lost inheritance recovered. There we ourselves shall be the sons of God, and God will be our Father.
H
Think what is the relation of an affectionate son to a good and wise father. What submission with equality – what complete sympathy and community of interest – what intimate communication of thought and feeling! So, O Christian soul! Shall it be between you and God. God will be your God, and you will be His child. You shall dwell in His home, and all that He has shall be yours. “All things are yours, the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; for all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:22).
I
Yes, God himself shall be yours. You shall look around you and see His towering altitudes, and count them as your own. You shall look deep down into the depths of His wisdom and be wise as God is. You shall find yourself borne up by His power and goodness, enveloped by His glory, and adorned with His beauty. Oh! My brethren, is not this joy?
J
Tell me, tell me, young men, tell me, children, tell me truly, one and all, what have been the happiest moments of your life? Was it the moments you have spent in sin? Was it the hour of some earthly success or triumph? Or was it not rather at some hour when God was near to you, and you felt the music of His voice and the perfume of His breath – sometime when you were praying, or when you had made a good confession or communion, or when you were listening to a sermon? I know it was.
K
I know there are times when every man has felt the words of the Psalmist: “What have I in heaven? And besides you what do I desire upon earth? You are the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:25) What are all the attainments of learned men to Him who is all-wise? What are all the conceptions of genius to Him who is all-beautiful, or the moral excellencies of good men to Him who is all-holy?
L
Yes, the thought of God is the source of the purest and highest pleasure on earth. That thought has ravished the saints with ecstasy, and made the martyrs laugh at their torments. And if merely to think about God in this life can make us so happy, what must it be to see Him in the life to come?
M
To know God and to love Him with our whole souls, to possess Him without the fear of losing Him, to take part in His counsels, to enter into His will, and to share in His blessedness – this is a joy, perfect and supreme; and this is the joy of heaven. This is the joy offered to you. This is all-satisfying.
N
The soul can desire nothing more. This is permanent, for heaven is eternal. This is always new, for God is riches and beauty inexhaustible and infinite. Oh, my brethren, do not envy those who were near our Lord’s person when He was upon earth. I know it is natural to do so. I know it is natural to say, “If I could but have seen His face, or heard the sound of His voice,” but no! yours is a still happier lot.
O
Do not envy Magdalene, who kissed His feet, nor St. John, on whose breast He leaned, nor the Blessed Virgin, who bore Him in her arms. Is it not permitted to the poorest and the weakest of you to see Him, not in His humility, but in His glory – to converse with Him and dwell with Him in the land of the living?
P
O blessed are they that dwell in your house! The world passes away, and the lust thereof, but he that does the will of God abides forever. Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and do it! Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God!
IV
A
One would have thought that this was enough. To be free from all the trials and sufferings of this present life, and to enjoy the fullest happiness a human soul is capable of – one would think that were heaven enough, and that no more could be added. But the bounty of God has added another element to the happiness of heaven. Heaven is a place of glory – not of rest only, but the glory also. “Glory, honor and peace,” says the apostle, “to every man that does well.”
B
Heaven is the place of God’s glory, and it is also the place of the glory of the saints. Even here the good are honored – the really good. True, for a while they may be despised and persecuted, but, in the long run, nothing is honored so much as virtue. During the lifetime of Nero and St. Paul, Nero was a powerful emperor, praised and flattered by his courtiers, and St. Paul a friendless and despised prisoner: now Nero is abhorred as the wicked tyrant, and St. Paul honored by all men as the saint and hero.
C
But this is not enough. In heaven the honor of the saints will be magnificent. God himself will honor them. This is one reason for the last judgment, that God may publicly give honor to the good. “Whosever shall glorify me, him will I glorify,” says the Almighty; and they who are saved will be admitted to heaven with respect and solemnity, as those whom the King delights to honor.
D
This is represented to us in the description of the last judgment: “Then shall He turn to them on the right hand and say: ‘Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,’” See how He praises them. See how He honors them and makes kings out of them. They are astonished: it seems too much. They know not how they have deserved it. But He insists upon it as their right.
E
He repeats the good actions they have done. “I was hungry and you gave me meat, I was thirsty and you gave me to drink. I was naked and ye clothed me.” Do you hear this, my brethren? So will it be with you when you stand before God to be judged. He will hold in His hand a beautiful diadem of gold, and he will say: “This is for you.”
F
And you shall be amazed and shall say: “No, Lord, this is not for me. I am nothing but a laboring man. I am but a poor boy. I am only a servant-girl. I am not the child of the rich and great. No one every made way for me in the street, or rose up when I came into their company.” But Christ shall say: “Nay! A prince you are, for you have done the deeds of a prince.”
G
Then He will begin to mention them one by one – your kindness to your old mother and father – your humble confession that it was so difficult to make, and which you made so well – the time you overcame that great temptation, and resolved, once for all, to be virtuous – the occasion of sin you renounced – the prayers you said in humility and sincerely – the sacrifices you made for your faith – the true faith you kept with your husband or wife – the patience you practiced in pain or vexation.
H
Then He will show you your throne in heaven, so bright you will think it an apostle’s, or the Blessed Virgin Mary’s, or that it belongs to God himself; and then the tears of joy and surprise will drop from your eyes, and your heart will be nigh to bursting with confusion; but He will smile upon you, and take you by the hand, and say: “Yes, you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.”
I
Then He will give you a certain jurisdiction, a certain power of intercession; make you an assessor in His high court of heaven, and make you sit on a throne with Him, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And others shall honor you. The saints shall honor you. The Blessed Virgin shall honor you. Now you honor her, so much at a distance from thee, and call her Lady; but then it shall be as it was when St. John and the Blessed Virgin dwelt together in one home.
J
You shall still honor her as the Mother of Jesus, and she will honor you as His disciple. St. Peter and St. John and St. James and St. Andrew shall honor you. Now you pray litanies to them; but then it will be as it was when Peter and Thomas and Nathanial and the sons of Zebedee were together, and Jesus came in their midst and dined with them.
K
The saints shall be one family with you. They will walk with you, and sit with you, and call you by name, and tell you the secrets of Paradise. And the angels shall honor you. Now you address your angel guardian on bended knee; but then he will say to you: “See you do it not; I am your fellow-servant, and of your brethren, who have the testimony of Jesus.”
L
And the Church on earth shall praise you. As long as time shall last, she shall make mention of you as one of those who rejoice with Christ in His glorious kingdom, and clothed in white, follow the Lamb whithersoever He goes. Yes, and the wicked and the devils shall honor you. Now they may affect to despise you – now they may persecute you and trouble you; but then they will be forced to do you honor, and, groaning within themselves for anguish of spirit, and amazed at the suddenness of your unexpected salvation, shall say: “These are they whom we had sometime in derision, and for a parable of reproach. We fools esteemed their life madness and their end without honor. Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints.” (Wisdom 5:3-5)
V
A
Such, my
brethren, are the joys of heaven, or, rather, such is the faintest and poorest
idea of the joys of heaven. Men seek for wealth as the means of defending
themselves from the ills of life, but there is perfect rest only in heaven. Men
seek for pleasure, but earthly joys are short and unsatisfactory; the pleasures
at God’s right hand are forever sure.
B
Men seek for honor, but the real honor comes from God alone. And these are within the reach of each one of you. When Father Thomas of Jesus, was dying in captivity, his friends came around his bedside, and expressed their regret that he should die, away from his home, and their hope that the King of Spain would even yet ransom him; but the holy man replied; “I have a better country than Spain, and the ransom has long been paid. That country is heaven, that ransom is the blood of Christ.”
C
The Holy Church says: “When you have overcome the sharpness of death, you did open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.” Yes! by the blood of Christ, by the sacrament of baptism, the gates of heaven are opened before us. The path is straight and plain. If by sin we have strayed from it, by penance we have been recalled to it, and now there is nothing to do but to advance in perseverance, and heaven is ours.
D
Will you draw back, Christian? Will you, by mortal sin, throw away that immortal crown? No drunkard or adulterer, nothing that is defiled, can enter there. There is only one road that leads to heaven – the road of Christian obedience. Will you renounce your birthright? Will you, by sin, take the course that leads you away from your heavenly home?
E
“Oh!” I hear you say, “I will choose heaven.” But, remember, heaven is to be won. “Heaven,” says St. Philip Neri, “is not for the slothful and cowardly.” Strive then, henceforth, for the rewards that are at God’s right hand. Strive to attain abundant merits for eternity. Remember that he who sows sparingly shall reap sparingly, and he who sows plentifully shall reap plentifully.
F
God is not unmindful of your works and labor that proceeds from love. Things so small as not to be taken notice of, things that happen every day, add a new glory to our mansions in heaven. With this aim, then, let us henceforth work. “Oh, happy I,” says St. Augustine, “and thrice happy, if, after the dissolution of the body, I shall merit to hear the songs that are sung in praise of the Eternal King, by the inhabitants of the celestial city!”
G
Happy I, if I myself shall merit to sing those strains, and to stand before my Lord and King, and to see Him in His glory, as he promised! “He that loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him” “How amiable are your tabernacles, Thou Lord of Hosts! My soul has a desire and a longing to enter into the courts of the Lord.”
H
Grant me this, O Lord. Give and withhold what you will. I do not ask length of days. I do not ask for earthly honor and prosperity. I do not ask to be free from care, or labor, or suffering. But this I do ask, O Lord: when this life is over, shut not up my soul in hell, but let me look on Thy face in the land of the living. Make me so to pass through things temporal that I lose not the things eternal. Hail, Heavenly Queen! our life, our sweetness, and our hope! to you do we cry, poor, banished children of Eve. Oh, then, from your throne in heaven, look upon us, who are struggling in this world, look upon us with your merciful eyes! And when this, our exile is over, show us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus!
Note: This was the last Sunday-Sermon which Francis Baker preached, two weeks before his death.