THE PARADISE

The paradise is the state of ultimate and ultimate happiness. It is perfect communion of life and love with God and among the blessed. It is to be forever with Christ, perfectly incorporated in him. It is in Christ that we find our true identity, that of children of God. It is through Christ’s death and resurrection that men have access to paradise (John 14:2-3; 17:24). In paradise the blessed see God face to face as He is (1 Corinthians 13:12; 1 John 3:2). Since Scripture speaks of spiritual things using images, this state of supreme happiness and perfect communion of life and love with God is presented as God’s garden (Revelation 2:7), heaven (Philippians 3:20), kingdom of the heavens (Matthew 8:11), house of the Father (John 14:2), wedding banquet (Matthew 22:8), light (1 Timothy 6:16), heavenly Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2.10). Man enters paradise through Christ as though through a door (John 10:9), since only through Christ and through his universal sacrifice (active and retroactive) can salvation and eternal life be found. In paradise, the blessed reign with Christ (Revelation 22:5), continuing to serve God with joy, and interceding for men still travelers on earth (Sirach 48:14; 2 Maccabees 15:6-16), offering the merits acquired on earth through Jesus Christ. We often refer to paradise as a place, and the very meaning of this word gives the idea of a place. In fact, paradise means “garden”. The Magisterium, however, has never declared that paradise is a place. Entering paradise means living in God, who cannot be confined to one place. Dante wrote in his Divine Comedy: “Our Father, what are you in heaven, not written down, but for more love than you” (Purgatory, Song XI). The Catechism, for example, refers to paradise not as a “place”, but as a “communion” with God and with the blessed (Catechism 1024). In one of his general audience, the then Pope John Paul II said: “The paradise is not a physical place in the clouds, but a living and personal relationship with the Holy Trinity. It is the encounter with the Father that takes place in Risen Christ thanks to the communion of the Holy Spirit.” (General Audience, July 21, 1999) It is true that Jesus and Mary are in heaven with their bodies, and that at the resurrection from the dead we too, if in this life we have practiced love and justice towards God and towards our neighbor, we will be assumed to heaven, that is, to heaven, with our own bodies. But it is equally true that, just as it was for Jesus and his mother, our bodies will be transformed, according to the apostle’s words: “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44) And again: “Who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” (Philippians 3:21) This body of ours will rise again, but it will be different in glory, since, as it is written: “I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” (1 Corinthians 15:50) By “flesh and blood” we mean this corruptible body. Then we will enter heaven with a spiritual body. Recounting her vision of heaven, Sister Faustina Kowalska said: “Today in spirit I was in heaven and I saw the inconceivable beauty and happiness that awaits us after death. I saw how all creatures ceaselessly render honor and glory to God. I saw how great is happiness in God, pouring out on all creatures, making them happy. Then all glory and honor that made creatures happy returns to the source and they enter into the depth of God, contemplate the inner life of God, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, who will never be able to understand or dissect. This source of happiness is immutable in its essence, but always new and springs up for the beatitude of all creatures.” (Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska, pages 194-195)