The spiritual perfection of Divine Union is the greatest spiritual gift we can hope to attain in this life, but it is not the end. Upon death, those who have reached a state of perfection in this life will immediately behold the Beatific Vision, which will be the source of even greater happiness for all eternity. Those who lack perfect union with God at the moment of death will undergo a final purification so as to be properly prepared to see God face-to-face. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that final purification this way:
All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned… (#1030–1031).
Though some find the idea of Purgatory difficult to accept, preferring instead to believe that all good people immediately go to Heaven upon death, understanding Purgatory correctly will fill us with a new hope that will compel us to greater holiness. The reality of Purgatory points us to the necessity of the transforming and ascending journey toward perfection that we are all invited to take during our lives. The journey to the heights of holiness requires great sacrifice, surrender, and profound interior purification. But it’s worth it!
Why should we embark on such a journey? Why not simply try to be good enough so we can enjoy life and die in a state of grace to attain Heaven? All the saints—everyone who gets to Heaven—will experience Heaven differently. In Heaven, our eternal joy will be to behold the Beatific Vision. The Beatific Vision is both beholding of God in His essence with our intellect by a direct, immediate, and intuitive vision, and a transformative experience in our will by which we are enabled to love God by a profound participation in His love. It will be fulfilling beyond anything we can imagine. Drawing upon the language of the Prophet Isaiah, Saint Paul describes this Heavenly happiness as “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
Those holy souls who have cooperated with God’s grace in this life to a profound degree will have a profound capacity in Heaven to participate in and enjoy the Beatific Vision. We cooperate with grace to the degree that we undergo our purification on earth. Those holy souls who stretch their capacity for love to a higher degree will behold and experience God with greater clarity and intensity. Those who cooperate with grace in only small ways will still see God face-to-face, but the clarity and intensity of their vision will be less. To use an analogy, every fan in a football stadium sees and enjoys the same game. The fan, however, who sits in the first row on the fifty-yard line has a clearer view of the game than the fan who sits in the upper deck. Similarly, all the saints in Heaven see and enjoy the same God. But those who were more generous in serving Him during this life will possess a better vantage point and experience than those who were less generous.
For these reasons, basic human logic tells us that it is far more reasonable to do our purification on earth, so that our charity grows as we are purified, leading to a much fuller eternal experience of God in Heaven. Understanding this is a truth of faith. When that truth of faith becomes our goal in life, supernatural hope is born and becomes our all-consuming desire and goal. We see the end to which we are called—the spiritual perfection of Divine Union—and hope in that end with divine strength. This combination of faith and hope produces charity within our souls, and charity leads us away from all sin and all sinful habits.
It’s also important to note that Heaven, as it exists now, is not the end. The souls in Heaven await the new Heaven and new Earth. At some moment in time, the Risen Christ will return to earth for the Final Judgment. All the dead shall be raised up and reunited with their bodies. The souls of those who died in God’s grace will be reunited with their glorified bodies that will no longer be subject to suffering, sickness, or death. The souls of those who died in mortal sin, however, will be reunited with their fallen bodies in which they will suffer the darkness and pains of hell—and eternal isolation from love and communion with God and others. In body and soul, the saints will be forever united to God and the Celestial Hierarchy. In body and soul, the damned will spend eternity in the suffering and despair of hell with the demons. Speaking of the Final Judgment, Jesus said “the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:28-29).
The greatest model of holiness, other than Jesus Himself, is the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is a creature, not God. Yet, prior to her creation, the Most Holy Trinity knew with perfect divine foreknowledge that if she were given the fullness of grace, she would cooperate with God’s will perfectly throughout her life. She did not disappoint. She remained sinless, resulting in her Immaculate Heart being full of grace and love, more than any other saint or angel, enabling her to share in the Beatific Vision to the highest degree. Every sacrifice she made, every right choice, and every act of service was perfectly guided by love. She never wavered and never turned away. Though on earth her holy sorrow and interior suffering were greater than we can fathom, from Heaven, she eternally rejoices in her daily choices to cooperate with God’s grace while on earth.
Part Two of this book is devoted to reflections on the Life of Christ as found in the Rosary. Christ’s human life was not only the source of our eternal redemption, it was also the perfect model for how we are to live and grow in holiness. Though He was perfect in His human nature from the moment of conception, we will discover that Jesus’ human life slowly revealed the path we must all take by the unfolding manifestation of His divinity.
The final two mysteries of the Rosary focus on the Mother of God. We ponder her Assumption into Heaven, body and soul, and her Coronation as Queen of Heaven and Earth. We place these reflections at the beginning of Part One because these mysteries reveal the end to which we are all called—the Beatific Vision in Heaven and in the new Heaven and new Earth to come. By beginning with the end, we firmly fix our eyes on the greatest object of hope we can have as a guide for our lives.
In her Assumption, the Mother of God entered body and soul into Heaven, receiving the most intense and clearest vision of God that any creature ever has had or will have, second only to the human mind of Christ. As Queen of Heaven and Earth, the Mother of God assists her Son, the King of the Universe, in the governance of His Kingdom of grace as it exists now. She will perfect that governance when Jesus returns again and establishes His permanent, visible, and eternal Kingdom in the New Heaven and New Earth.
Allow these preparatory reflections not only to draw you into an admiration of the beauty of the Queen of Heaven and Earth, but also to inspire you to follow her, to the extent you are able. Though we will never attain the glory the Blessed Virgin Mary attained, we must strive to draw close to her, imitate her, and attain the greatest glory we can. This life is but a blip on the radar of eternity, but this “blip” will determine how we live forever. Commit yourself to the ideals of the Christian life and strive for the most profound holiness you can achieve. In Heaven and in the New Heaven and new Earth, you will not regret the sacrifices, purification, prayers, and charity that you engage in here and now.
Assumption: Attaining the Beatific Vision
[A]fter we have poured forth prayers of supplication again and again to God, and have invoked the light of the Spirit of Truth, for the glory of Almighty God who has lavished his special affection upon the Virgin Mary, for the honor of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages and the Victor over sin and death, for the increase of the glory of that same august Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church; by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory (Munificentissimus Deus #44).
Try to imagine the moment that the Blessed Virgin Mary entered, body and soul, into the glory of Heaven. Her body and soul had remained free from all sin during her entire life on earth, and she had continuously cooperated with God’s grace throughout her earthly pilgrimage. Having completed her time on earth, she was taken up into Heaven where her body shares in the glory of her Son’s Resurrection. The Apostolic Constitution defining the Dogma of the Assumption quotes a Byzantine liturgical prayer to Mary which states:
God, the King of the universe, has granted you favors that surpass nature. As he kept you a virgin in childbirth, thus he has kept your body incorrupt in the tomb and has glorified it by his divine act of transferring it from the tomb” (Munificentissimus Deus #18).
The Catechism teaches:
The Most Blessed Virgin Mary, when the course of her earthly life was completed, was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven, where she already shares in the glory of her Son’s Resurrection, anticipating the resurrection of all members of his Body” (Catechism of the Catholic Church #974).
What does our Blessed Mother now experience in Heaven? With her intellect, she beholds God’s divine essence with a clarity greater than that of all the angels and saints. Everything makes sense to her. She understands every mystery, perceives every divine truth that human nature is capable of perceiving, knows the essence of the Trinity by a direct vision, and remains in eternal wonder and awe at all that she sees. Faith and hope are no longer present because she now sees and possesses God.
Her vision of God also floods her will with the fullness of charity, by which she first loves her God in the most intense way possible. Her will is consumed with love and never ceases loving, adoring, and worshiping God. This love is so abundant that it overflows and is poured out upon all the saints and angels. Her maternal love also pours out upon us on earth so that we can receive every grace from God to which we are open.
The Blessed Mother shares in God’s happiness beyond just her intellect and will. Her body also participates in the glory of the Resurrection. As she gazes upon the Trinity and loves God with all the powers of her human soul, her every human emotion and bodily desire are fulfilled as they are caught up in and consumed by divine love. The thought of seeking satiation in any way other than the love of God is wholly and eternally absent from her.
Mary’s Assumption is “an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians” (Catechism of the Catholic Church #966). The consummation of love within her body and spirit not only perfectly fulfills her, it also invites us to begin sharing in this spiritual and bodily fulfillment while on earth. Her eternal happiness is the exemplar of our own. Like Mary, we are called to share body and soul in God’s happiness. Her heavenly witness must speak to us and invite us to turn away from every temptation to satiate our bodies and souls in illicit ways. By prayer, we must share in her heavenly knowledge, love, desires, affections, and emotions. What she experiences now must begin to be established within us, so that Heaven can begin to exist within us as we journey up the golden staircase toward the summit of grace. We are invited to begin sharing in this “second Heaven” spoken of by Saint Teresa of Ávila, as we anticipate the eternal Heaven, and ultimately, the New Heaven and new Earth.
While on earth, we do not partake of the Beatific Vision. But we are able to receive infused faith, hope, and charity, through which we can now experience God’s very life and a foretaste of the Beatific Vision. Upon our deaths, if we die in a state of grace and complete our purification, our spirits (intellect and will) will share in the Beatific Vision. Our bodies will remain in the tomb, corrupted and awaiting the General Resurrection at the time of the Final Judgment. Therefore, the saints in Heaven do not currently enjoy the resurrection of the body and the fulfillment of every bodily desire. This will only come with the Final Judgment and the resurrection of the body.
Turn your eyes to Heaven. We must always see this life as a preparation for the next life. This life is not an end in itself. Earthly fulfillment will never compare to the glory that awaits us. Living for this life alone is foolish. If we can gaze upon the end and goal of our earthly lives with faith and understanding, then we will be driven by hope—hope of Heaven, hope of eternal fulfillment, hope in superabundant happiness.
By fixing our spiritual eyes upon Heaven and hoping in that end, our lives on earth will radically change. We will begin to reject every lie that proposes a false sense of fulfillment. Earthly riches, indulgences, and every enticement to sin will be unmasked, and we will see the foolishness of seeking satiation from those lies. Selfless sacrifice, purification, prayer, and the attainment of holiness will suddenly make sense to us. We will discover the wisdom in such activity and will commit ourselves to the spiritual journey toward the summit of grace.
We must see the end so that we know the purpose and meaning of our lives. We must understand what we truly want, how every desire can be authentically fulfilled, what true happiness is, and how we attain it. Commit yourself more fully to this spiritual journey by gazing upon the glory of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the angels and saints in Heaven. Journey with them and toward them. Do not make this life an end in itself; make it a means to the end to which you are called. Embrace every spiritual discipline necessary for that journey by seeking Truth and grace, so that you will know and love God as fully as possible in this life, becoming fully prepared for the glory that awaits you after death.
Coronation: Thy Kingdom Come!
Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death (Catechism of the Catholic Church #966).
The Blessed Virgin Mary is the Queen over all, the Queen of Heaven and Earth. As we ponder her queenship, turn your eyes to the end of all things—the New Heaven and new Earth. When Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead, and every human body and soul are reunited, the bodies of those who died in a state of grace will be resurrected and glorified. From that moment onward, every human weakness and disorder will be eliminated. Sickness, suffering, confusion, temptation, and all burdens will be no more. The saints will then share, body and soul, in the Resurrection of Christ.
Imagine entering Heaven with the anticipation of the resurrection of your body. Then imagine that day finally coming. Once you share, body and soul, in the New and Eternal Heavens and Earth, nothing in this life will matter except for how much charity you attained while on earth. Your money, possessions, worldly prestige, successes, failures, and even sins will no longer matter. All things will pass away except the divine love—charity—you had in this life. That charity—supernatural love of God and others—will accompany you for eternity and will be the source of your eternal glory. God’s grace alone will save us, but the degree of our cooperation with that grace will determine the degree of our soul’s growth in divine love, and the degree of our divine love will ultimately determine the degree of our eternal share in God’s glory.
Do you seek to build up treasure in Heaven by supernaturally loving God and neighbor? How much treasure have you stored up? Strive to become as spiritually rich as possible, making that the single-most important purpose of your life. In the New Heaven and new Earth, you will never regret the sacrifices, prayers, service, and selfless acts of love you offered in this life.
Consider how fulfilling the New Heaven and new Earth will be. In the previous reflection, we considered how the Blessed Virgin Mary now delights to the fullest degree in the glory of God. God is the source of our eternal happiness and fulfillment of every desire as we participate in a direct, unmediated, and intuitive vision of His divine essence. Additionally, as members of the Communion of Saints, we will be filled with wonder and awe as we gaze upon the unique role the Blessed Mother has played in the mystery of redemption and her eternal role as Queen.
The new and glorious Kingdom of God will be one of perfect order and harmony. Peace and joy will fill that eternal City of God. Sin, corruption, and disorder will no longer exist. The one City of God, made up of the angels and saints, with God as the Supreme King and the Blessed Virgin Mary as the eternal Queen, will be a Kingdom beyond what we can fathom.
Let your faith in such a glorious Kingdom instill divine hope within you. Let that hope drive you to desire and attain that Kingdom by God’s grace. Faith and hope in that glorious end will produce eternal love, or charity, which must be the exclusive goal of our lives.
Next: Chapter Three: The Nature and Role of Angels
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