"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." (I Cor. 2:9)
1. These words convey the best idea that the Apostle who had been carried up into the third heaven could give of the happiness of the redeemed. All the loveliest things we have ever seen are as nothing in comparison to the sight of heaven; all the sweetest sounds are discord compared with the music of heaven; all the joys that have made the longest hours only too short do not deserve the name of joy compared with the joys of heaven. One moment of heaven is worth them all!
2. Whatever God does He does on a scale worthy of Himself. The happiness of heaven will be immeasurable from the fact of its being in union with the God of infinite love and beauty. It will be a joy like the joy of Our Lord Himself, since he will say to each of the redeemed: "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Am I doing what I can to insure those words being addressed to me?
3. In heaven all will be perfectly happy. Even those who have the lowest places will have all that their hearts desire. There will be no unsatisfied wish in heaven, no craving after what we do not possess. Every one will have an overflowing cup of pleasure. Oh, what fools we are not to do more to insure the joy of heaven!
Pray that you may often think of heaven and its joys.
Rev. R.F. Clarke, SJ,
The Devout Year
