Sunday, April 28, 2019

Heaven On Earth - Can It Be Real?

For many, this blog entry is all speculation but can be true for some.

The answer to the question posed is a resounding "Yes!"  It is both a measured and a qualified "yes".

On Being A Measured "Yes"

The unit of measure is based on the depth of genuine faith in and genuine love for God, the Blessed Virgin Mary and Her beloved Son.

The apparatus used for this measurement is not a finely calibrated instrument.  It detects either the presence of genuine faith and love or their absence.  There is nothing in between.  Conditional faith and lukewarm love do not register.  They are considered to be absent.  Their absence is like a "Page Not Found" on the internet.  The analogy does not end here.  Borrowing words from Wikipedia, this HTTP 404 status code results from "a broken or dead link" [1] not unlike the link between man and God when man's faith in God depends on a positive outcome and when man's love for God is relegated to the periphery, overcome by hypocrisy or warped by every kind of sin.

On Qualifying The "Yes"

The "yes" needs to be qualified because not everyone can agree on what it means by "Heaven On Earth."  For some, it means total self-abandonment and no suffering with every need and want provided for and satisfied.  This is not Heaven but hedonism.

Heaven is not for those into self-gratification and self-aggrandizement.  On the contrary, Heaven is for those who supplicate.

For Catholics, supplication is as simple as saying the Holy Rosary while focusing on every prayer.  This includes thinking about what the Hail Mary (Ave Maria) prayer is saying, especially the words in the first paragraph, 53 times, without the mind drifting off to far away places.  If the mind drifts toward worldly cares, burdens, responsibilities, needs and other thoughts, as it often does, catch oneself and go back and say those prayers again, slowly.  To "supplicate" means among other things "to pray humbly." [2]  To pray humbly means forgetting the self completely and think only of God, the Son of God and the Mother of God.

Even though every Catholic knows the Hail Mary (Ave Maria) prayer, it may be useful to have a quick review here.  The first part establishes Mary's relationship with the Lord ("the Lord is with thee" or "Dóminus técum"), with everybody in the world ("Blessed art thou amongst women" or "Benedícta tū in muliéribus") and with Her beloved Son, being a Mother to Him in Her womb ("and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus" or "et benedíctus frúctus véntris túi, Iésus").  Mary's relationships in the first part sets the foundation for the second part of the prayer by uniquely qualifying the Blessed Virgin Mary as the most effective intercessor of all for everyone--not just Catholics ("Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners" or "Sáncta María, Máter Déi, óra pro nóbis peccatóribus"). [3]

Saying the Holy Rosary is not to be treated like a debt to be paid, an obligation to fulfill or a mindless daily routine that perhaps takes place at home, in seminaries and monasteries too.  Wherever and whenever the Holy Rosary is being said, it is at its core a genuine expression of undiluted love kept alive by unwavering faith.

It is the combination of absolute faith in and absolute love for God that merges the spiritual and the physical worlds.  Miracles happen when the merger occurs.  For persons experiencing miracles or recalling them, Heaven is indeed on earth at those very moments in their lives.



[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_404
[2] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/supplicate
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hail_Mary


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