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!