How will we change in heaven?
/
How will we change or transform in heaven? To be honest I have never thought about this question. All I have ever focused on is that if God has mercy on my soul and I get to enter through the pearly gates I will be able to experience God’s divine and loving light and will be able to worship him even better. Just like it says in Psalm 27, “One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.” I have also hoped that I will be able to learn about the needs of my loved ones on earth and intercede to God on their behalf. And of course, it will be wonderful to re-unite with my grand parents, uncles and aunts, and all the lovely people already in heaven.
But how will my soul transform in heaven? I had not given any thought to this until recently when I heard a podcast which had Catholic Apologist Joe Heshmeyer as guest and he explained that we will be glorified in heaven. We will transform into the same divine nature of Jesus Christ. There are a few Scripture passages from Saints Peter, John, and Paul that help us understand this change:
“Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature.” (2 Peter 1:4)
“Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he (Jesus) is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. (1 John 3:2–3)
“When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” (Romans 8:15–17
As heirs of God with Christ, our soul will be glorified and we will share in Jesus’ divine nature. Well, to a degree as Jesus is God. To me this means that our new divine state will allow us to love God and all his creatures with the purity and intensity with which Jesus is able to love. An intensity of love we can’t even fathom now. We will be able to fully abide in Jesus and Jesus will abide in us in total communion. We will have an intense capacity to grasp the magnificence of God and worship him like never before. We will be able to learn about the needs of our loved ones on earth and pray for them and ask God to help them. Perhaps our new divine nature will allow us to better understand the great mysteries of God and creation.
How will this promise of glorification help us now in our journey to salvation and the salvation of others? One of the habits in Stephen Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is to begin with the end in mind. Just like athletes visualize taking the winning shot or breaking their record, we can meditate and visualize our glorified selves in heaven where we will have a near Christ-like ability to love and worship God and to love and serve everyone. On Friday at the Adoration chapel I meditated on this promise of glorification and found it very powerful. I plan to do this more.
More importantly, how can we work backwards from this ultimate state and think about how can we start becoming Christ-like here and now? With the help of the Holy Spirit we have the graces necessary to get closer to Christ’s level of love, empathy, sacrifice, and union with God. This divination of our soul can start now to a degree. Just look at the example of the lives of so many saints. They lived their lives as if it was no longer them that lived, but Christ that lived in them. God gives us the graces to start this transformation now and to carry our crosses, because living “in the world, but not of the world” is not easy, but oh, so glorious. Saint Paul does make reference to us starting this process of glorification, through the grace of God, while still on earth, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.” 2 Co 3:17–18).
Doing everything we can now, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to be as Christ-like as possible allows us to love all humanity to the maximum of our capacity and to spread the good news of the Gospel so that more people will also experience the glory of heaven.
“O my God, Trinity whom I adore, help me forget myself entirely so to establish myself in you, unmovable and peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing be able to trouble my peace or make me leave you, O my unchanging God, but may each minute bring me more deeply into your mystery! Grant my soul peace. Make it your heaven, your beloved dwelling and the place of your rest. May I never abandon you there, but may I be there, whole and entire, completely vigilant in my faith, entirely adoring, and wholly given over to your creative action. ”
