518, Heaven

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 518

Ave Maria series

If the Father is “in heaven”,  where is that heaven?

Heaven is wherever God is.  The word “heaven” does not designate a place but, rather, indicates God’s presence, which is not bound by space and time.  [2794-2796, 2803]

“Angel of God my guardian dear to whom God’s love commits me here, ever this day be at my side to light and guard, to rule and guide.  Amen.” …..518

We should not look for heaven above the clouds.  Wherever we turn to God in his glory and to our neighbor in his need; wherever we experience the joys of love; whenever we convert and allow ourselves to be reconciled with God, heaven opens there.  “Not that God is where heaven is, but rather heaven is where God is” --Gerhard Ebeling.  52

“Heaven on earth is wherever people are filled with love for God, for their fellowmen, and for themselves.”  --St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)

[2794-2796, 2803]

"WHO ART IN HEAVEN"

2794 This biblical expression does not mean a place ("space"), but a way of being; it does not mean that God is distant, but majestic. Our Father is not "elsewhere": he transcends everything we can conceive of his holiness. It is precisely because he is thrice holy that he is so close to the humble and contrite heart. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

"Our Father who art in heaven" is rightly understood to mean that God is in the hearts of the just, as in his holy temple. At the same time, it means that those who pray should desire the one they invoke to dwell in them.⁵⁴ –CCC

54 St. Augustine, De serm. Dom. in monte 2,5,18:Patrologia Latina 34,1277.

"Heaven" could also be those who bear the image of the heavenly world, and in whom God dwells and tarries.⁵⁵ –CCC

55. St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. myst. 5:11:Patrologia Gatina 33,1117.

2795 The symbol of the heavens refers us back to the mystery of the covenant we are living when we pray to our Father. He is in heaven, his dwelling place; the Father's house is our homeland. Sin has exiled us from the land of the covenant,⁵⁶ but conversion of heart enables us to return to the Father, to heaven.⁵⁷ In Christ, then, heaven and earth are reconciled,⁵⁸ for the Son alone "descended from heaven" and causes us to ascend there with his Cross, Resurrection, and Ascension.⁵⁹ –CCC

56. Compare Genesis 3.

57. Luke 15:18,21.

58. Compare Isaiah 45:8 him, by; Psalm 85:12.

59.  John 3:13; Jn 12:32; Jn 14:2-3; Jn 16:28; Jn 20:17; Ephesians 4:9-10; Hebrews 1:3; Heb 2:13. 

2796 When the Church prays "our Father who art in heaven," she is professing that we are the People of God, already seated "with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" and "hidden with Christ in God;" ⁶⁰ yet at the same time, "here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling."⁶¹ –CCC

60. Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 3:3.

61. 2 Corinthians 5:2; compare Philippians 3:20; Hebrews 13:14.

[Christians] are in the flesh, but do not live according to the flesh. They spend their lives on earth, but are citizens of heaven.⁶² –CCC

62. Ad Diognetum 5:Patrologia Graeca 2,1173.

THE SEVEN PETITIONS

2803 After we have placed ourselves in the presence of God our Father to adore and to love and to bless him, the Spirit of adoption stirs up in our hearts seven petitions, seven blessings. The first three, more theological, draw us toward the glory of the Father; the last four, as ways toward him, commend our wretchedness to his grace. "Deep calls to deep."⁶³ –CCC

63. Psalm 42:7.

Angel Guardian Angel 1900