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It’s Day 142!!
THE HOPE OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW EARTH
So what happens to the Cosmos?
What happens to all created things?
At the end of time, when all things are brought to rights…
Not just humanity will be brought into line with God
ALL OF CREATION will be brought into line with God
Remember how God created this world
There was no darkness, evil, sin, brokenness, death, mourning, crying, pain, etc.
Then what happened?
Sin entered the world and we experience all of those things
Paragraph 1044 says, “‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’”
We are talking about this HOPE of the NEW HEAVENS and the NEW EARTH
We long for this gift of this final day when God doesn’t just redeem all humanity but EVERYTHING HE HAS CREATED gets redeemed by the work of His Son, Jesus Christ
So let’s pray!!
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we thank you. We thank you and we praise your name. We call upon the name of your Son, Jesus, who is the Redeemer of the World. He is the Redeemer of Man. Of course, absolutely Lord God, we say yes to that. He is also the Redeemer of your Creation. Lord God, the Creation that you made good that we have broken, but you still continue to redeem, you still continue to use it and bring back to yourself, will one day be fully restored. We beg for that day in our lives and our time. We beg for that day to come soon. Because, Lord God, we find ourselves walking in the midst of pain. We find ourselves walking in the midst of mourning, and of grief, and of sorrows, and of loss, and of death. Lord God, until the Last Day when you restore all things, please meet us in those moments. Please meet us as we walk in the midst of our own grief, in sadness, and death. Meet us in the midst of those because we know that you are the God of the living. You are the God who can bring the dead back to life. You are the God who will wipe away every tear. And you are the God who meets us in our brokenness. You meet us in our broken hearts. And so until that day, continue to come to us. Continue to find us in our brokenness. And continue to redeem it. Continue to transform it. Bring us close to you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”
So there we have it!!
THE HOPE OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW EARTH
The whole human story of Creation will be concluded
In this new universe there will be a place
Every human being will be reunited BODY AND SOUL
A human being is a BODY AND SOUL COMPOSITE
That body NEEDS A PLACE TO LIVE
All of Creation will also be REDEEMED
It is not simply a matter of human beings being redeemed and having their bodies redeemed in a completely new way
The universe ITSELF will be renewed
Some people think of Heaven being relatively boring
People think we have robes and a cloud and bounce around playing our harps (or in my case my hybrid double-neck guitar and mandolin!!! 😉)
We love traveling parks
But we get bored after an hour
If Heaven is just a giant traveling park sure it can get boring
If Heaven is just a giant harp concert yes it can get boring
BUT…
WHO created this universe in which we find so much JOY?
WHO created this universe in which we find so much BEAUTY?
WHO created this universe in which we find so much EXCITEMENT?
WHO created this universe in which we find so much ADVENTURE?
GOD!!!
The same God who created this universe is the CREATOR AND REDEEMER of the New Universe
THE NEW HEAVEN
THE NEW EARTH
If we are fascinated by THIS world
If we look at the Rocky Mountains and think they’re incredible
If we look at the ocean and think we could stay there forever
Fr. Mike is now talking about Lake Superior and telling a story…
The same God who made this is the same one who REMAKES the Heavens and Earth
There is NOTHING even remotely boring about the idea of Heaven and life with God forever
Not only is all the universe restored
BUT…
We get COMPLETE ACCESS TO GOD
Ultimately, God is THE POINT OF ALL OF THIS
Paragraph 1045 says, “Those who are united with Christ will form the community of the redeemed, ‘the holy city’ of God, ‘the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.’ She will not be wounded any longer by sin, stains, self-love, that destroy or wound the earthly community. The beatific vision, in which God opens himself in an exhaustible way to the elect, will be the ever-flowing well-spring of happiness, peace, and mutual communion.”
GOD IS THE POINT OF HEAVEN!!
Redemption…
New Heavens…
New Earth…
AMEN!!
SO INCREDIBLE!!
BEAUTIFUL!!
UNIMAGINABLE!!
BUT…
The POINT of all of it is the VISION OF GOD
We will have an UNMEDIATED encounter with the Lord HIMSELF
We can’t even BEGIN to imagine this
AND YET…
Paragraph 1046 says, “For the cosmos, Revelation affirms the profound common destiny of the material world and man: For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God…in hope because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay…We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now…”
So how do we live NOW?
Paragraph 1048 says, “‘We know neither the moment of the consummation of the earth and of man, nor the way in which the universe will be transformed.”
So we have to take care of the earth we have
There will be a NEW CREATION
There will be a NEW HEAVENS
There will be a NEW EARTH
Fr. Mike is telling a story about a rental car…
Or something about building a new house…
The brokenness in us doesn’t want to take care of things
That is the attitude that the Church is counseling AGAINST
Paragraph 1049 says, “‘Far from diminishing our concern to develop this earth, the expectancy of a new earth should spur us on, for it is here that the body of a new human family grows, foreshadowing in some way the age which is to come. That is why, although we must be careful to distinguish earthly progress clearly from the increase of the kingdom of Christ, such progress is of vital concern to the kingdom of God, insofar as it can contribute to the better ordering of human society.’”
Let’s not only care for each other, let’s care for this earth
We NEED to advance and help people around us
We NEED to take care of the earth
If we can move forward with more justice and education and truth that is awesome
That is a worthy goal
We also have to realize that the ULTIMATE GOAL is what will LAST FOREVER
We don’t trash what is going to pass just because it is going to pass away
We honor it now because it is part of Creation
At the same time…
We must keep our eyes fixed on the Lord
THIS IS SO REMARKABLE!!
Paragraph 1050 says, “God will then be ‘all in all’ in eternal life.”
St. Cyril of Jerusalem says in Paragraph 1050, “Thanks to his mercy, we too, men that we are, have received the inalienable promise of eternal life.”
At some point in our lives, Christ will present to His Father an ETERNAL AND UNIVERSAL KINGDOM
Whether you are around ON EARTH or around IN ETERNITY
WE WILL BE AROUND!!
YOU AND I ARE GOING TO SEE THIS HAPPEN!!
Our prayer is that we use this life on earth in such a way to be able to live with Him forever in Heaven
That we use this earth in such a way to be able to enjoy the New Heavens and the New Earth forever
THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!
God has made us and placed us in THIS WORLD because He had made us for ANOTHER WORLD
THAT world will be a world of PEACE AND JOY
EVERYTHING will be centered around the One who made it
Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!
Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!
I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!
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