Our eyes, the eyes of our soul they need, they have to be prepared to contemplate the beautiful face of Jesus. Our hearing must be prepared in order to hear the beautiful things, the beautiful words. Above all our hearts must be prepared: prepared for love, to love more. [In our life’s journey the Lord prepares our hearts] with trials, with consolations, with tribulations, with good things:
The whole journey of life is a journey of preparation.
--Pope Francis, Homily, 26 Apr 2013
基督徒的一生是耶穌及聖神的工作，為我們預備地方，預備我們的眼睛，使我們能看見。為了看見耶穌美妙的容顏，我們靈魂的眼睛需要預備妥當。為了能聽到好事、善言，我們需要預備聽力。為了愛，更好地愛，最重要的是預備心靈。[教宗強調，在生命旅程中，上主]藉著考驗、安慰、苦難和美好的事物[來預備我們的心靈]。整個生命旅程就是一個預備過程。
Showing posts with label heaven. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heaven. Show all posts
The Lord prepares us for heaven
Heaven -- no more tears
Isaiah 25: 8
He will swallow up death for ever,
and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces
他要永遠取消死亡，
吾主上主要從人人的臉上拭去淚痕
Revelation 7:17
God will wipe away every tear from their eyes
天主也要從他們的眼上拭去一切淚痕。
Narrow is the path to heaven, wide the path to perdition
As I travel around and visit with people, the picture that most Catholics have in their mind about the world is this: "Broad and wide is the way that leads to heaven and almost everybody's going that way, but narrow is the door and difficult the road that leads to hell and hardly anybody's going that way." Now this is a little scary because it's just the opposite of what Jesus said. So how did we get to this point, where so many of our fellow Catholics are believing something as a matter of Gospel truth that is just the opposite of the Gospel truth. Matthew 7: 13-14 “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few." --Ralph Martin, Director of Graduate Theology Programs in the New Evangelization at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit and a Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization
HOLE IN THE HEART
The big, blazing truth about man is that he has a heaven-sized hole in his heart, and nothing else can fill it. We pass our lives trying to fill the Grand Canyon with marbles. As Augustine said: “Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee".
-- Peter Kreeft
A SECOND REASON FOR HEAVENLY HAPPINESS
Again, eternal life consists of the joyous community of all the blessed, a community of supreme delight, since everyone will share all that is good with all the blessed. Everyone will love everyone else as himself, and therefore will rejoice in another’s good as in his own. So it follows that the happiness and joy of each grows in proportion to the joy of all.
--St Thomas Aquinas
Cum inhæsero tibi ex omni me, nusquam erit mihi dolor et labor, et viva erit vita mea tota plena te. Nunc autem quóniam quem tu imples, súblevas eum, quóniam tui plenus non sum, óneri mihi sum. Conténdunt lætítiæ meæ flendæ cum lætándis mæróribus, et ex qua parte stet victória néscio. Conténdunt mæróres mei mali cum gáudiis bonis, et ex qua parte stet victória néscio.
When at last I cling to you with my whole being there will be no more anguish or labour for me, and my life will be alive indeed, alive because filled with you. But now it is very different. Anyone whom you fill you also uplift; but I am not full of you, and so I am a burden to myself. Joys over which I ought to weep do battle with sorrows that should be matter for joy, and I do not know which will be victorious. But I also see griefs that are evil at war in me with joys that are good, and I do not know which will win the day.
(St Augustine, Confessions, Book 10)
Earthly suffering, when accepted with love, is like a bitter kernel containing the seed of new life, the treasure of divine glory to be given man in eternity. ... Those who suffer in union with Him already experience in this life a joy that can seem humanly inexplicable.
Heaven in fact begins on earth, beatitude is anticipated in the Beatitudes. 'In holy people,' Saint Thomas Aquinas said, 'there is a beginning of future happiness.' (STh I-II q69 a2)
(Pope John Paul II, Address on the Mystery of the Church, 1994)
18 Existimo enim quod non sunt condignae passiones huius temporis ad futuram gloriam,
quae revelanda est in nobis.
19 Nam exspectatio creaturae revelationem filiorum Dei exspectat;
20 vanitati enim creatura subiecta est, non volens sed propter eum, qui subiecit, in spem,
21 quia et ipsa creatura liberabitur a servitute corruptionis in libertatem gloriae filiorum Dei.
22 Scimus enim quod omnis creatura congemiscit et comparturit usque adhuc;
23 non solum autem, sed et nos ipsi primitias Spiritus habentes,
et ipsi intra nos gemimus adoptionem filiorum exspectantes, redemptionem corporis nostri.
24 Spe enim salvi facti sumus;
spes autem, quae videtur, non est spes;
nam, quod videt, quis sperat?
25 Si autem, quod non videmus, speramus, per patientiam exspectamus.
18* I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
19* For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God;
20* for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will
but by the will of him who subjected it in hope;
21* because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay
and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22* We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now;
23* and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit,
groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
24* For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope.
For who hopes for what he sees?
25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
(Romans 5:18-20)
13 Credo videre bona Domini in terra viventium.
14 Exspecta Dominum, viriliter age,
et confortetur cor tuum, et sustine Dominum.
13 I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!
14 Wait for the LORD; be strong,
and let your heart take courage; yea, wait for the LORD!
(Psalm 27:13-14)
25 Quis enim mihi est in caelo?
Et tecum nihil volui super terram.
26 Defecit caro mea et cor meum;
Deus cordis mei, et pars mea Deus in aeternum.
25 Whom have I in heaven but thee?
And there is nothing upon earth that I desire besides thee.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength* of my heart and my portion for ever.
(Psalm 73:25-26)
It is fitting that the end of all our desires, namely eternal life coincides with the words at the end of the creed, “Life everlasting. Amen”.
The first point about eternal life is that man is united with God. For God himself is the reward and end of all our labours: I am your protector and your supreme reward. This union consists in seeing perfectly: At present we see through a glass, darkly; but then we shall see face to face.
Next it consists in perfect praise, according to the words of the prophet: Joy and happiness will be found in it, thanksgiving and words of praise.
It also consists in the complete satisfaction of desire, for there the blessed will be given more than they wanted or hoped for. The reason is that in this life no one can fulfil his longing, nor can any creature satisfy man’s desire. Only God satisfies, he infinitely exceeds all other pleasures. That is why man can rest in nothing but God. As Augustine says: You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our heart can find no rest until it rests in you.
Since in their heavenly home the saints will possess God completely, obviously their longing will be satisfied, and their glory will be even greater. That is why the Lord says: Enter into the joy of your Lord. Augustine adds: The fullness of joy will not enter into those who rejoice, but those who rejoice will enter into joy. I shall be satisfied when your glory is seen, and again: He who satisfies your desire with good things.
Whatever is delightful is there in superabundance. If delights are sought, there is supreme and most perfect delight. It is said of God, the supreme good: Boundless delights are in your right hand.
Again, eternal life consists of the joyous community of all the blessed, a community of supreme delight, since everyone will share all that is good with all the blessed. Everyone will love everyone else as himself, and therefore will rejoice in another’s good as in his own. So it follows that the happiness and joy of each grows in proportion to the joy of all.
(St Thomas Aquinas, Collatio super Credo in Deum)
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