Continuing with the exploration and reflection through a series of articles written in a conversational language about Catholicism, about God, about Jesus, about the Church and many other faith related topics. Here we present:

Question 37 – What do humans do in the heaven? 

There are no eyewitness accounts of life in heaven*. Yet the Bible* and the Christian experience of faith teach a lot about life after death. Words can only express the content of this in a poor way. Christians believe that human beings are made to live forever, rather than to disappear into the abyss of death. That, after death, you will forever be with God.* That is why Christians believe that in the hereafter there is no place for suffering and violence but only for love and joy.

What will you do there? Eat rice porridge with a golden spoon? The recipe book of heaven is unfortunately not known. We do know, however, that in the Bible eternal life* is often compared to a festive meal: a pleasant encounter where people celebrate together. You could say that you are already building our future eternal life, day in, day out: if you really love people, are good to others, share beautiful things with others, are close to others, open up yourself to God in silence, that’s forever. That can never be taken away from you again. That is just like eternal life.

In other words, real life, real love and real beauty are never lost. All the divine things that happen to you during your life, no matter how short or unseen, are eternal. Although a human life on the outside sometimes seems to be one big failure, God’s gentleness keeps tracking down that authenticity. Life and love, no matter how modest, open a person forever to God, who is the source of it and who desires to share it forever with his beloved people. In this sense, eternal life has already begun.

– Do you have a representation of heaven?
– Do you believe that you will go to heaven later?

Watch this space! Coming up:   Question 38 – Does God want evil? 

Follow these links to go back to previous questions

If you wish to learn more about this resource follow this link  “52 Questions and Answers about faith”

About the author:

Nikolaas Sintobin, SJ, joined the Society of Jesus in 1989, following a short career as a lawyer. He was trained as a Jesuit in Brussels, Paris, and Santiago de Chile. Today he is a spiritual director who is keenly interested in online ministry and discovering new ways to help people find God.

This text is republished with the permission of Messenger Publications, Ireland. To buy a hard copy of the book click here.