Word of the Week
Christ the King Sunday
Heaven: Shamayim (Hb.): meaning “heights” or “elevations”, along side this term stands other terms in the Hebrew that convey an upper region of the world, a region on high, a whirlwind, and firmament (clouds, sky).
Heaven is eternal life with God, communion with love in the Blessed Trinity and all the blessed that have gone before us. Itis the state of supreme and definitive joy. Heaven is our souls in union with our Creator and Father (CCC 1023) and “the goal of the deepest longing of the human heart” (Glossary, 881).
Heaven is found in Sacred Scripture 831 times: 550 in the Old Testament and 281 in the New Testament. Its biblical context encompasses a great number of motifs and themes. I would like to concentrate on two principle meanings from the NT. Both Paul and John address heaven as a clear and direct vision of God. Paul, in his letter to Corinth, highlights this deepest truth of heavenas he states that we will see God “face to face” (1 Cor.13.12). Similarly, John speaks to an encounter with God where we will see Him “as he is” (1 Jn.3.2) in his Father’s house (Jn.14:2). Mark records in the opening of his gospel an additional theme to the heavenly reality, chiefly, its liturgical character. He writes, “The heavens opened” (Mk.1.10) and the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove. The actual Greek for open is schizo, which means “to rip” or “to tear”. Mark uses this same verb at the end of his gospel when he depicts the veil of the temple being torn in half (Mk.15.38) (Hahn and Minch, 17). The Church fathers concluded, that it was the occasion of the Crucifixion and death of our Lord that the temple was torn in two so the people of God would be invited to dine with him at the banquet of the lamb (Rev.19.7). Indeed, it is the Paschal sacrifice of the lamb, the Liturgy, where we encounter our Lord and Savior in the most provisionary way here on earth (1 Cor.10:14-22, Rev.5:6). Essentially speaking, Christ was the first fruits of a new offering made leaven so that we who belong to him may partake of the new harvest (cf. 1 Cor.15:20-28).
The Solemnity of Christ the King directs our attention towards a deeper understanding of not only the Kingdom of Heaven (cf. wow on KH), but also Heaven and its direct relationship to Christ. God calls us to live in the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Love (all received during Baptism) to embrace the heavenly realities that come to us in the sacramental life and everyday circumstance. We live with one foot on earth and one foot in heaven, constantly mindful of living with the end in mind; seeking his ‘face’, ‘as he is’ in our daily journey.
We must hear and pray those words that come to us from the celebration of the Mass: “Lord, we proclaim your death, until you come again.” These words prayed, in and out of our daily vocation, calls us into the righteousness of the saints and ultimately leads us to eternal life (Mt.25:46) and our eternal inheritance (1 Pet.1:4, Heb.9:15).
“How great will your glory and happiness be, to be allowed to see God, to be honored with sharing the joy of salvation and eternal light with Christ your Lord and God, . . . to delight in the joy of immortality in the Kingdom of heaven with the righteous and God's friends.”
-- St. Cyprian
Primary Texts Consulted
