From the bulletin for The Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Sep 01, 2024)
The Eschatological Adventure, Part 8: Forever and Ever, Amen!
The New Jerusalem did indeed descend from the heavens. Not through space, however. Reality seemed to possess a new dimension now, an aspect indescribable within the limits of earth-bound grammar. In addition to length and breadth and depth, beyond before and after, there was now, well, a quality that seemed to extend into the very depths of God. Along that dimension the prophet’s petition found fulfillment: “Let justice descend, you heavens, like dew from above; let the earth open and righteousness also spring up!” As “justice” condescended like dew from the bosom of the Creator, the earth that had been rendered scorched and barren through man’s sin and the dying process that resulted now flourished anew. Life and color sprung up from the dry dust as if to receive the heavenly city, adorning the surface of the earth as never before, like a bride adorned for her betrothed, with all that is lovely and alive. What came “down” was not a city of stone but a far more heavenly structure. It was order, plan, and arrangement. It was logos.
The “new” dimension had, in fact, always been there. But man’s sense for it had been lost with sin. A generous few had become aware of it during their mortal life, but only dimly. Now, those who had become “pure as He is pure” perceived it plainly. Their vision beheld the original nakedness that had been enjoyed before the Fall, by which all was transparent to man’s gaze and seen for what it was in the sight of God. Suddenly, everything was theological. Everything spoke of God. The simplest drop of water glistened with transverberations of His glory. And each person? In comparison to that drop, even the plainest saint was a relative “god,” communicating to the cosmos something unique and exquisite about the Almighty. The new creation was, in fact, a symphony. The meaning of the whole hinted at God’s infinity. To each creature, a part in the harmony. To appreciate the result needed an eternity.
The result was altogether ineffable. It should be noted that Eager Louis shed his last tear as everything fell into place before his eyes. He was overcome by the rightness of it. Beyond this point, however, his experience can only be suggested. No sketch is possible; the contour of these things cannot be reduced to lines our minds can fathom. Here too the analogy of the seed holds. How could one, who has only known them as seeds, imagine what plants will look like when fully grown? So it was with the old creation and the new. There was now a fullness that rendered everything unrecognizably superior.
A few ink blots can, perhaps, illuminate more than they mislead. In his mortal flesh, Eager had tended to think of Heaven according to his egotism. That is to say, in terms of his personal experience and individual activity. Certainly, in glory Eager was still himself, and more so than ever before. But Heaven was much more hierarchy, much more communion than he had ever imagined. The blessed were all “members of one another;” parts of a body that acted in union, shared a common Life, felt and loved together. Though each had his unique place and special gifts, their differentiation was not a cause for envy or discord. On the contrary. Eager experienced joy on account of the perfections of his brothers and sisters, all the more so when they exceeded his own. He delighted in them with the very delight of the Father. In fact, egotism itself was obliterated. Eager’s one concern was the glory and praise of God; he was happy if He was happy. And, oh, how happy He was!
There was no longer any need for hurry. Heaven was remarkable for its intentionality and leisure. It was time to simply be: to be together with God, whose being was absolutely engrossing and utterly exhilarating. Every saint had his or her own insight into the Trinity. Through what can only be called verbal intercourse, each could communicate to another what he or she saw of God. And they did so by revealing the intimate depths of their own personality, in whom the Persons dwelt as in a temple.
Yes, it was a city; it was a kingdom. It was a shared life; an ordered whole. It was all a liturgy of praise outflowing from inner shared delight. Everything was beautiful, and anointed, and right. But everything that has been said so far, vague as it must be, is just the shell or exterior. For now that Heaven had descended, and the city was prepared for its Maker to espouse it and dwell within it, then–oh, then! –the Daystar begins to rise. And this is a wholly new thing. The Light is streaming from the unapproachable Light into the hearts of the saints along that restored dimension of the divine. The Light shines directly on their souls, filling them with a Warmth they recognize as the Spirit, and disclosing to them the very image of the Father. Each one and all together begin to know as they are known by their All and Forever, and everything becomes Amen.
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