Catholic Faith Refresher Course

"That eye hath not seen. nor ear heard: neither hath it entered into the heart of man. what things God hath prepared for them that love him.'. (1 Cor. 2:9).

DIRECTIONS TO THE STUDENT

In this lesson try to realize that heaven is real, that it is a place where God wants you to be perfectly happy with Him forever. In order to get into heaven you must give up your serious sins. Ask God to give you a burning desire for heaven.

 A. BIBLICAL NAMES FOR HEAVEN

In the Bible heaven is also called Paradise, the Holy City , and the Kingdom of Heaven.

B. FALSE IDEAS ABOUT HEAVEN

Many people have false ideas about heaven. Heaven is not a place of sensual pleasure. In heaven you will not sit on a cloud and playa harp. Heaven is a place of perfect spiritual happiness.

C. CORRECT IDEAS ABOUT HEAVEN

In heaven you will be free from all pain and suffering and death .You will never be unhappy. In heaven your happiness will be perfect and unending.

D. THE GREATEST HAPPINESS IN HEAVEN IS SEEING GOD FACE TO FACE

The most important thing in heaven is seeing God face to face. This will bring you perfect happiness.

In this life you know about God; you do not know God. For example, you know about the President of the United States; but you do not know him. You know about George Washington, but you have never met the man. While you are on earth you know about God; you do not know him. In heaven you shall know God, see God, as He really is.

From the things God has made, we can learn much about God. If a mountain or the sunset is so beautiful, how much more beautiful is the God who made them. Perhaps you have been out in a storm and were afraid-you saw the tremendous power of nature. Yet how much more powerful must be the God who made the storm. The stars, the moon, and the earth are only footprints of God. From these things you have a little glimpse of what God is like. In heaven you shall see God face to face as He really is.

In heaven you shall see God. Now you see God only in an imperfect mirror- the mirror of creation. In heaven you shall see God face to face; you shall know God as He is in Himself.

Mothers, remember the day the nurse placed your first baby in your arms? You were burning with happiness. You remember also the happiness that was yours when you saw your child graduate from school. Some day you may have the happiness of seeing your son ordained a priest. Yet these are only fleeting moments of happiness, they pass by quickly and are gone. In heaven, the happiness of seeing God face to face will last forever. The happiness of every man, woman and child in the whole world all put together would not equal a split second of the happiness that shall be yours in heaven.

The Bible tells how St. Stephen was stoned to death for his faith in Jesus. In spite of his suffering, Stephen was very happy; the crowd could even see the happiness in his face. Why? Because St. Stephen was soon to see God. (Acts 7:55)

E. IN HEAVEN YOU SHALL LOVE GOD INTENSELY

In heaven your intense love for Almighty God will make you perfectly happy. It is difficult for us to understand the intensity and the wonder of our love of God in heaven. The only way we can begin to understand it is by comparing it with human love on earth. Human love is the strongest thing in the world.

Think of the love of a mother for her first-born baby. You can almost see her love pouring out on the child; all the money in the world could not move the mother to give up her child. Think of Mary's love for the Baby Jesus; when she leaned over her Baby for the first time and when she held the Baby Jesus in her arms, how intense was her love!

A mother will even risk her life for her child. If she were to come home and find fire engines in front of her home, she would try to run into the burning building to save her child. She would even struggle with the firemen trying to keep her back, so great is her love!

Consider how intensely a mother loves her soldier son. She prays for him while he is away. She will go down to the airport hours before the plane arrives, to meet him when he comes home. And when she sees him stepping off the plane, her heart rejoices with unspeakable love.

The presence of the one you love makes you happy: his absence makes you unhappy. The greatest happiness of a mother is reunion with her son. The greatest pain a husband and wife suffer is that of separation. There is an emptiness in your heart when you are separated from the one you love.

If we love human beings so much, how great and how intense will be our love for God when we see Him face to face in heaven!

All these examples of human love on earth give us only a vague idea of how wonderful will be our love for God in the next world .

F. "THOU BAST MADE US FOR THYSELF, O LORD, AND OUR HEARTS WILL ALWAYS BE RESTLESS UNTIL THEY REST IN THEE"

Why are you always restless? Why are you never satisfied with the things of this world? The reason is that you are not made for this world-you are made for God. You will never be satisfied until you are united with God in heaven. St. Augustine tried out many of the pleasures of the world. In searching for pleasure, he turned to every sin. St Augustine finally came to this conclusion: "Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts will always be restless until they rest in Thee."

King Solomon had so much wealth that he did not know what to do with it; but he was not happy. The drunkard looks for happiness in his bottle, and all he finds is a hangover. Others seek pleasure in sins of sex, but they are not really happy either These people are looking for happiness; but they are all mixed up; they are looking for happiness in the wrong place-what the~ are really looking for is God. Complete satisfaction and complete happiness can be found only in God. Seeing God face to face and loving Him intensely is the only thing that will ever satisfy your craving for happiness.

By obtaining God's grace, by leading a good life, and by thus enjoying the peace of a good conscience, you can be happy here on earth. But even though this bit of happiness is wonderful and satisfying in its own way, it cannot be compared to the supreme and intense happiness of heaven.

G. ONLY GOD'S GRACE WILL GET YOU INTO HEAVEN. The only way you can get into heaven is by having God's grace in your soul. Grace, as we said, is sharing in God's life. Every human being is conceived in his mother's womb without grace; the only exception was the Blessed Virgin Mary. The whole purpose of your life is to obtain God's grace and thus to get to heaven.

You obtain God's grace by completing a full course of religious instructions, by being sorry for your sins, and by being baptized. You keep God's grace in your soul by living according to the teachings of Christ and by receiving His Sacraments.

H. WINNING HEAVEN MEANS SACRIFICE

The only thing that really counts in life is obtaining heaven. The purpose of these classes is to move you to be sorry for yow sins, and to win grace for your soul. This will place you on the road to heaven.

For most people, obtaining heaven means real sacrifice. Everyone has to give up something big to get into heaven. Our Lord told the story of a merchant, a dealer in pearls. The merchant searched the whole world to find the most beautiful pearl, the pearl of great price. When he found it he discovered that he would have to give up all his other pearls in order to buy the pearl of great price. For a moment he was sad; but when he realized how much more valuable and more beautiful this pearl was in comparison with all his others; these he willingly sacrificed for the one of great price.

Heaven is that pearl of great price. You will have to give up much to purchase it

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW OF THIS LESSON

I. What are some of the other names for Heaven?

2. What will be our greatest happiness in Heaven?

3. How intense will our love for God be in Heaven?

4. How important is grace to get to Heaven?

5. Is any sacrifice too great to gain Heaven?