This week, as I talked to God in my prayers and experienced the love of God in action through meeting people, I have been considering, “Where is heaven?”
Today, on a damp Saturday morning, I went to church to say my prayers. I lit a candle and allowed the flicker of the flame to focus my thoughts. As I looked at the cross in the Reconciliation Chapel, it struck me that as Jesus ascended from the earth, he must have had to go somewhere.
He must have ascended to somewhere, a “place” perhaps the place we call “heaven”. This idea of a “place” is hard to understand and quite mysterious. Where is Heaven? Where is its physical location? Is it beyond the Universe? Is it in the Universe? The simple answer is that we do not really know.
As the flame flickered, it was sufficient for me to simply ponder the question and let that question sit as a mystery still to be understood.
However, we can also say that this “place” Jesus ascended to is the right hand of the Father (we read this in Acts 2 and Psalm 110). Clearly, God the Father is not physical, but Jesus is with him in body and soul. To be at the right hand of the Father especially points to the fact that Jesus is the Messiah and King.
It helped me to understand that the image of Jesus at the Father’s right hand, is an image especially given to reveal to us Jesus as king with authority now and for eternity. Perhaps our concept of heaven can help us enter a life of fulfilment beyond what we could ever comprehend.
I like to believe that even in heaven, we will fully comprehend the love of God he has for us and his mercy. That may help us to navigate through the challenges that life places before us, and perhaps allow ourselves to give and receive love and mercy.
In these coming days, be kind to yourself and to others.
Every blessing
Fr. Paul