The Goal of Heaven

May, traditionally, is known as the month of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And so it is appropriate to honor her in different ways in these days with special prayers and devotions and customs. For example, many people focus on praying the rosary each day of this month, and many parishes have a May Crowning to recognize Mary as queen of heaven and earth. That tradition may come from the fact that for centuries the last day of May was the Feast of the Coronation of Mary, although now that day is celebrated in August.

Since much of May falls during the Easter season, we also remember in this time that Mary is in heaven, body and soul, because of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of her son Jesus. And today we celebrate the second to last feast of the Easter season, the great Feast of the Ascension. Jesus, as God and man, is himself the union of heaven and earth. But when he ascended, he brought what is earthly – our human nature – into the very place of God’s true presence. And in so doing, he paved the way for mere human beings to follow him – Mary, the saints, and eventually, we pray, us.

The notion of going to heaven is one that probably sounds familiar to us. Most Christians are aware that that is what we should be aiming for and what we hope awaits us at the end of our life. Perhaps the true danger in this day and age is presuming that everyone, or nearly everyone, will surely make it there, and assuming that certainly we ourselves at least will. With that assumption in place, then, heaven often just recedes from our daily focus, and becomes something of an implicit expectation that in reality we don’t think of too much.

Frankly, this is not really what the Lord wants or expects. Having gone ahead of us, Jesus wants us to make joining him in heaven the ultimate goal of our lives and the daily purpose behind everything we do. Think for a moment about all of the dreams and hopes and aspirations that people have, that you probably have: a good education, a successful job, a rewarding career, hobbies that you enjoy, a sense of purpose and fulfillment, a life partner who makes you happy, the blessing of children and grandchildren. All of these things are good and beautiful, and they are not in themselves contradictory with the Christian life. But it’s also true they aren’t the *goal* of the Christian life either – no single one, or even all of them together, are the purpose for which we were created or the ultimate goal of our daily existence. That is, and should be, getting to heaven.

Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, Coronation of the Virgin with Six Saints [detail] (1504)

It’s important, of course, to know how to get to heaven. Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel, just before he ascends to heaven: to make disciples of all nations. It is obeying this commandment that will bring us to where the Lord is. And so, everything we do should be about following Jesus ourselves, and about giving a sign to others of how to do the same. But the first step in living this out is learning to yearn for the goal we are striving for. Think of Mary, again: after Jesus ascended to heaven, she surely was a sign to others of the Good News of Jesus. How could she not be, as Jesus’s Mother? But surely she did all that she did because she desired to be with him again in heaven. How much she must have ardently desired that, at every moment – how much it must have been the singular purpose for everything she did! And as we know, that goal that was in her heart was rewarded at the end of her life when she was taken body and soul into heaven and crowned by her Son.

Friends, as we celebrate today Jesus’s Ascension into heaven, let’s ask ourselves how ardently we are yearning to join him there. The other plans and purposes of our lives can be good, and we can strive for them too, but never to the detriment of our ultimate goal of reaching heaven. And if Jesus should ask us to give up one or more of them in order to reach this goal, how greatly will he surely reward our earthly sacrifices with heavenly joys, just as he did for his Mother. O Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, pray for us!

Still With Us

Happy Mother’s Day to all. A few days ago, I was watching the nightly news, and at the end of the segment, the anchor went out into Central Park to ask a few kids about Mother’s Day. He asked them why we celebrate our moms and what they were preparing to do for the day. Finally, he asked them what word best describes their moms. One child said, “kind.” Another said, “caring.” One kid though responded, “stressed.” I bet he’ll never hear the end of that.

Whether as kids or as adults, at some point we all realize that our moms aren’t perfect. But we love and appreciate them anyway: because they love us, and they do their best for us, to nurture us, to teach us, to support us – no matter how old or gray we might get. So much of what we experience and how we see the world is shaped by what our moms have given us, how they have formed us, how they have made us who we are. That’s why we can say truthfully that they are always with us. No matter how physically separated we are from them – even when they pass from this world and await us in the next – they are with us.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus uses similar language to describe God’s fidelity and love. We are used to thinking of God in masculine terms, because that is how he has revealed himself to us: a Trinity of Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But we might also say that God’s love exhibits many of the same traits as those we admire in our mothers, only to a far greater extent. Even more than our mothers, God has formed us and given us life; he nurtures, teaches, and supports us; and he desires to be so connected to us as to always be with us. In fact, as we hear Jesus tell us today, God’s love is such that he gives his very self to those who believe in him, such that he dwells in them and they in him.

Jesus lays out how this works at the Last Supper, the context for our passage today. He explains to the disciples that he is about to go away from them, to enter into his Passion, Death, and Resurrection. At the same time, those very same events – what we call the Paschal Mystery – also become the means by which he remains with his disciples. We say that our mothers are with us always because of their profound influence on us, but God, because of his all-powerful love, actually does remain with those who love him. The proof of that love, Jesus explains today, is following his commandments. If we follow what Jesus has taught us, God reveals everything of himself to us and dwells within us by means of the Holy Spirit.

The Supper (19th cent.), Sebastian Winterhalder Workshop, Germany

Notice the clear causal connection: in order to receive this gift of God with us, we must love the Lord, and this is shown by being faithful to his commandments. In other words, loving Jesus is not primarily about having any particular sentiment; it’s about what we *do* – the way we live, and the purpose and intention for how we live. This is the most important reason to obey the precepts of our faith, to follow the teachings of the Church, and to strive to be more faithful each day – not because we make ourselves holy by following commandments, but because the Lord has promised *he* will make us holy if we do. He will give us the Spirit, who will enlighten us further on how we are to live, and he will dwell within us, giving us a share in his life that goes beyond the grave.

We give thanks for our mothers today, and rightly so. We think about the ways they have shaped us, and we recommit ourselves to doing our best to living out what they have taught us. The same should be true of us in relationship with God, only to a far greater extent. The Lord Jesus promised not to leave us orphans, but to remain with us, if we remain faithful to him. If he were asked to describe in one word how well we are living out his commandments, what would it be? “Well-intentioned”, “inconsistent,” “stressed”? Let’s strive today, as best as we can, to live out his commandments perfectly, proving our love for him anew each day, knowing that he will do his part – sending forth the Holy Spirit to give us peace, encouragement, and love.

Friends, as we prepare to receive the Sacrament of the Altar, we recognize that in the celebration of this mystery, the Paschal Mystery becomes present anew – and so too the Lord himself comes to be with us. Following his commandment to do this in memory of him, may we become aware of how his words are fulfilled in this very Sacrament: “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”