God says, “Behold, I make all things new.” [Rev 21:5] Our true destiny is life, eternal life, and our God is a God of the living. In this life, we pray:
TO HAVE the eyes of our hearts enlightened, that we may know what is the hope to which Christ has called us, to know the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. [Eph 1:18]
I believe anyone who is spiritually perceptive, who realizes that there are other ways to see than by mere human eyesight, understands that angels and saints of heaven can see everything in heaven and on earth as God wills. They may see everything in the worlds of time and eternity because they are perfect.
The heavenly angels and saints are not in a “happy hunting ground” or “round-up corral” somewhere. They are much, much closer to us than we can imagine. The angels and saints and all of heaven, in truth, are as near as one’s outstretched hand. We mortals typically cannot see heaven. Our eyes of faith are weak, and we are not yet perfect:
EYE HAS not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it yet dawned on man what God has in store for those who love him. [1Cor 2:9]
Surely miracles are not thrown down to us here on earth from way up “there”. We speak of miracles which have the power to change who we are, what we do, and who we are meant to become. When God permits us to see great and beautiful things—even for a moment—we never forget. We are humbled to be so privileged. We want to share the “Good News” of our miraculous experience and awareness of God.
We want to hold on to the miracle in our lives—we don’t want to let go. In an instant, we comprehend how our world is so flawed and broken by sin and rebellion, and how very much we need God. I believe the great miracle is not so much the wonderful and miraculous “thing” that appears to our eyes to be unique and unrepeatable.
Actually, miracles occur when our eyes of faith and our human eyesight converge for a few moments—a short while—and we see heaven and earth come together. Our perceptions become extraordinary, and we are able to see things, and into things, and know things that are truly beyond ordinary human powers.
The true miracle is that which takes place in one’s own self, when my eyes are open for a time—however long God may will—and I am able to glimpse for a moment at least, what surrounds me always! (1)
You see, God’s heaven is here! His heaven is as close as my outstretched hand! God in his heaven is a like a mother hen--remembering the thought of Our Lord—who gathers her chicks under her wings to shelter them, to protect them, to comfort them and to provide them a peaceful respite in a broken world.
Take your hand now, if you dare, and pass it through the air above you in this holy place, and your hand will pass through ten thousands of angels whom God has sent to join us in this Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. They did not fly across the universe to reach us. No, they are already here. They surround us always, because heaven surrounds us always.
When a loved one dies, his soul does not go so far away that he is on the other side of the cosmos, beyond our reach and beyond our love. To the contrary, our loved one is very close to us now, much closer than we can imagine. Indeed our loved one is as near as our outstretched hand.
We learn this by faith, and this is why we speak so confidently and so intimately of the Church as a visible witness of the invisible love of God. This is why we know that salvation is not only a truth but is also a person. The person is the one we have come to know as our Lord Jesus Christ, the one whom we seek, the only one who ultimately can satisfy our uniquely human desire for perfect love and unbroken trust.
Otherwise, we could never speak of the Mystical Body of Christ. If heaven—its shining city Jerusalem, the angels and saints, and all our loved ones—were beyond our spiritual reach, our prayers, and our love. Therefore, with great conviction, we speak of Jesus Christ whose hand is on our shoulder, although we cannot see him with our imperfect human eyesight.
And we hold fast to the heavenly promise that our loved one is not dead but rather alive, and that he is very close to us. In fact, we may find him on the other side of Our Lord whose hand is on our shoulder. He is walking hand in hand in with Jesus—so close to us, so near, so radiant in God’s love and light. As Peter the Apostle and our first Pope has written:
IN THIS you rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
WITHOUT HAVING seen him you love him; though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy. As the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls. [1Pet 1:6-9]
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(1) Willa Cather, DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP (New York: Random House, 1990) 49. "Where there is great love, there are always miracles...One might almost say that an apparition is human vision corrected by divine love. I do not see you as you really are...I see you through my affection for you. The Miracles of the Church seem to me to rest not so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near to us from afar off, but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that for a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is there about us always."
