Homily for Ordinary Time 28 - October 15, 2017

Homily for Ordinary Time 28

October 15, 2017

Heaven Is Where God is Being Enjoyed

            Just recently, a very unique new reality TV show aired in England. The premise was simple – take four party girls and offer them a chance for a two week “spiritual journey”. The four girls agreed to be part of it, but it turns out that the spiritual journey was a two-week stay in a convent of nuns!

            At first, the girls were not happy about that! Two weeks of living like a nun? Praying every day? Having a schedule, no music but chant, no parties and no alcohol? Worst of all – no men? They were reluctant - but it was amazing to see the transformations! After the two weeks of praying, eating, and working alongside other nuns, they left changed. One of the girls – a former nightclub dancer – is now volunteering with the homeless. Another one said, “Those two weeks were the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.” The show is called “Bad Habits, Holy Orders” – you can watch it online.

            Why were they so happy? Because for the first time, they felt like they were loved. The girls said that they felt like they constantly had to pretend to be someone they weren’t (one girl spent over $60,000 on makeup, clothes and accessories last year). They felt like they had to get drunk and sleep with men in order to feel loved. But in the convent, they experienced what it was like to truly be loved for the first time for who they were – and it was life-changing!

            Heaven is going to be a lot like that. We’ll finally know that we are loved, and loved completely. I feel like our vision of Heaven is often not very good – it’s pictured as a place where we sit on clouds strumming harps. Pretty boring, but surely better than Hell. But wait – Heaven isn’t boring at all. Look at the image we get in Scripture – Heaven will be a wedding feast. I hope you haven’t been bored at a wedding feast – it’s usually quite a celebration with good conversation, dancing, great food…a place for family and friends to gather in joy and conviviality. Why should Heaven be any less? It will be a place where we are finally at home – loved by God and by others for who we are, not for what we look like or what we’ve accomplished or our bank account or our many masks we hide behind.

            Consider this analogy. Imagine that you begin to be pen pals with someone in another country. You start writing letters back and forth, and through the letters, you start to truly love this person. You send small gifts to them and they always send beautiful, expensive, valuable gifts to you. You have seen pictures of them, heard stories of their life, heard about their friends and family and their life in the foreign land. For years, decades, you correspond daily. They have told you in so many ways that they love you and care for you deeply. You feel like you know this person and love this person more than your own family. Finally, after years of this, you get to meet this person. Can you imagine the joy at this meeting? Imagine how much you will want to be in their presence!

            And this is Heaven. For your entire life, God has been trying to send you messages of love. Yes, you have never seen Him, but you have heard His stories, read His letters in the Scriptures, received His gifts such as the gift of His Body and Blood, and you have desired to see Him. In Heaven, we will finally meet Him face-to-face, and get to spend eternity with the only One who loves and delights in us perfectly. We call this the Beatific Vision – seeing God, which is the greatest joy of Heaven!

            But Heaven is only for those who choose it. God invites – but we must respond. Notice that some people who are invited to this wedding feast are too busy – that is a symbol of those who don’t care about the Lord, are apathetic toward faith. Some people kill the servants – a symbol of those who hate God, and try to destroy the Catholic faith. Some people arrive at the feast but are not allowed in because they are not dressed in wedding garments – a symbol of those who say they love God, but their evil actions show differently. Only those who are wearing a wedding garment (lived a life of holiness) and have accepted the invitation (through faith in God) are allowed to enter the banquet.

            But the good news is that we do not have to die to begin Heaven. As a wise priest once told me, “Heaven is where God is being enjoyed.” And that begins here, as we can live our everyday, ordinary lives in union with God. It’s not hard – just love Him, serve Him, seek Him. Living in union with God brought healing and joy to four party girls – why not you?