3rd Sunday after Easter 12.5.19 Reward
People talk fairly freely of heavenly reward, pronouncing
that this or that person has now gone to Heaven.
Heaven is a place we greatly desire yet we do not know much
detail about it. Some have had visions; and we can use a little logic and a
little imagination.
The consensus of all the spiritually wise is that Heaven is
not just a place of earthly pleasures extended forever.
There will be much pleasure very likely, but the main point
of Heaven, the main source of happiness is the possession of God, to be able to
see Him.
To worship God is not a burden, as many would see it, but a
delight, once we come to know Him as the Source of all love and goodness.
Many would see the pinnacle of earthly happiness as discovering
union with another person.
That is to stop too soon. It is union with God that we need
to seek. He is greater and more desirable than any merely human person.
Union with God is the reward that awaits us.
In today’s Gospel: you
shall be made sorrowful but your sorrow shall turn to joy. We will be
rewarded for all our trouble. One part of that reward is to go to Heaven. That
is no small thing.
The other part of the reward is here and now, and follows
from the same reasoning; that the greatest happiness we can have is to be close
to God in all our doings.
If we seek God, we will experience in increasing amounts the
joy of knowing and dealing with Him.
Anyone who gives up father mother etc… will receive a
hundredfold in this life (Mt 19,29).
What does it mean? Not a hundred times what we gave up but a
hundred times more happiness, at being that much closer to God, the source of
all joy; at knowing what our lives are for, having a sense of purpose and
direction.
It is often observed that a person can be surrounded by
riches and yet be very unhappy; conversely someone can be poor economically
speaking but rich in happiness.
While on our way to the eternal reward we gain mastery of
our various desires and appetites, and find ourselves able to keep balance
between them all.
As to other people we will love them more if we love God
first. Loving God first gives us the right starting point. Then, any other
love, of people or things, will be in the right proportion -
even to the most difficult neighbour.
We are drawing charity from the furnace; we then have enough
to be able to disperse to others.
We can love anyone, once having taken a draught from the springs
of salvation (Is 12,3).
It is no longer a burden to love others; we become people
who can love, through our union with God. It comes naturally.
The reward ‘now’ is that we are on the team; we are part of
God's family, doing His bidding, making His kingdom appear wherever we happen
to be.
He will work through us to achieve His kingdom. There is
suffering, but we do not focus on that. Just as the joy of a birth exceeds the
pain of bringing it about, love does not count the cost.
All the while we are preparing for Heaven. We will be ready
for it by the time we get there.
And we are at least improving the state of the world around us.
We are not just chasing the peripheral aspects of happiness,
as worldly people do, but the central meaning of it all.
We are content to rest like a child, trusting in God's
providence… Ps 130 (131). We do not seek to overrule Him, or improve on what He
can do, but let Him work through us.
This is our reward – to discover God progressively, in
everyday life, till the full possession of Him in eternity.
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