Strengthening our belief in our heavenly destination

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

WITH the celebration the Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady, we are reminded that though we feel so unworthy of it, we are actually meant to be in heaven in our definitive state of life. And that, not only spiritually, but also corporally. We are meant for heaven body and soul.

Thus, we need to see to it that even as we immerse ourselves as deeply as possible in our earthly affairs, we should not lose our sense of heaven and eternity. In fact, the ideal is that as we go deeper in our temporal affairs, our sense of heaven and eternity should also become sharper.

This is always possible and doable as long as we are guided first of all by our faith rather than by our feelings and by our merely human estimation of things. Let’s always remember that it is our faith, our Christian faith, that gives the whole picture of our life—where we come from, where we are supposed to go, the purpose of our life here on earth, the true value of our mundane concerns, etc.

Let’s be theological in our thinking and reaction to the things of this world. For that, we of course would need some training. It should consist of always referring things to God, whatever they may be—good or bad, a success or a failure, a victory or a defeat, etc. We need to feel the urge to do so.

In short, we have to keep our spiritual and supernatural bearing which should involve a certain detachment from the things of the world. For this detachment to be lived, we should assume a certain spirit of gamesmanship or sportsmanship, since the effectiveness of our earthly affairs is not so much in whether we win or succeed in them as in whether we manage to refer them to God whatever the outcome.

Just the same, we need to learn how to have a touch and feel of heaven while going through our earthly affairs. No, we don’t have to die first before we can already have a feel of heaven, if not practically touch it. By doing our ordinary daily work, whether big or small, in public or hidden at home, and doing it with real love for God and for others, we can already achieve this ideal that is proper to us.

For this to take place, we of course have to work with working faith and piety, since without them, we will not be aware that working with love for God and others can already connect us with our final home in heaven. It’s love that is fueled by faith and piety that does the trick, so to speak.

Working with love for God and others lends sacredness to whatever task we are doing, no matter how mundane it is. And that is because as image and likeness of God, as God’s children whose creation is still a work in progress in our earthly life, any kind of work, as long as it is honest and is part of our responsibility, enters into the dynamics of God’s providence over us, his continuing work of our very own creation.

God is actually leading us to heaven, providing us with all the means to reach our final destination. Ours is simply to follow him. And we can do that if are keenly aware of our duties here on earth. We have to see the organic connection between our earthly life and duties and our yearning for heaven. We cannot have one without the other.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com