Like It's Heaven on Earth

Today, I received one of those chain emails with a feel-good story, followed by a number of one-liners like “work like you don’t need the money,” “dance like no one’s watching,” “sing like no one’s listening.” I stopped at the next one: “live like it’s Heaven on Earth.”

I thought about this a moment, and it struck me how few people reading this statement probably get the true meaning of what such a life would look like. It seems like, these days, the concept of heaven has been warped in a way that is almost commercial. It is seen as a place of perfect happiness and pleasure, which for many people means worldly pleasures – all the decadent food you could want (without gaining wait, of course), all the earthly things you enjoy – golf is your favorite activity? Then heaven is an endless game of golf with perfect scores! It could perhaps even mean sexual pleasures – all the women a man could want – all of them beautiful, busty, and ready to satisfy your every desire. I think of a popular television show I used to watch, which depicted heaven as having a customized room for each person who entered there. For one teenage boy who had died in an episode on the Rapture, this room included a beautiful, nude woman riding a unicorn that pooped hamburgers (or something along those lines). It’s a funny image, but I think it degrades the true beauty of heaven. Yet, it is probably at least vaguely similar to what many people think of when they read this line “Live like it’s Heaven on Earth.”

To many, heaven on earth means not having any problems, getting everything you want, all the pleasure, luxury, etc. without having to suffer any consequences.

But when I read this phrase in this email, I thought, a bit sadly, people don’t know what that really means! Yes, heaven is a place of perfect happiness – but it is a place of perfect happiness with God! In heaven, we will be in perfect loving union with God and with all the angels and saints, united in our love and adoration of the Holy Trinity. In heaven, our wills will finally be perfectly conformed to the will of God; we will not seek our own selfish desires, but only the greater glory of God!

So, what would it look like to live “like it’s Heaven on Earth?” It would mean giving glory to God in all that you say and do; living a life that brings glory to God, and that brings your will into perfect union with God’s will. In heaven, this will be without struggle, but on earth conforming to God’s will can sometimes be painful, because our own sinful will often resists it. To live like it’s heaven on earth means, in the truest sense, to live a life of love and union with God and others. This means always acting in a loving way towards others, avoiding disunity and discord and striving instead towards unity; it means a complete and sacrificial gift of self (in the example of Jesus Christ, who made the most complete gift of self in His sacrifice on the Cross). Above all, to live like it’s heaven on earth means to live in constant worship and adoration of God. Isn’t this the image we see in the Book of Revelation? All the hosts of heaven gathered around the throne of God singing “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts!”

And so I pray that we may all be able to truly “live like it’s heaven on earth,” and do so in an authentic, unselfish way, that puts God first above all else, and always strives for love and union between each other.

I leave you with the words of St. John in Revelation 7:

Triumph of the Elect.

“After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb.”

All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshiped God, and exclaimed:

“Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, “Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?” I said to him, “My lord, you are the one who knows.” He said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

“For this reason they stand before God’s throne and worship him day and night in his temple. The one who sits on the throne will shelter them. They will not hunger or thirst anymore,

nor will the sun or any heat strike them. For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”