Question
Dear Father Angelo,
Today, while looking for information on a topic concerning the kingdom of heaven, I chanced to come across an answer from you.
The question that interests me is this:
When we will be in the kingdom of Heaven, will we recognize our loved ones? Or will we forget every human relationship we had on earth (children, husband / wife, parents, siblings, friends, etc.)?
I ask you this question because while arguing with a dear friend of mine, she claimed that in heaven we will not recognize each other, but we will be in a kind of oneness with God, experiencing immense joy.
Well, concerning the immense joy and the fact of being one with God and of glorifying and loving Him for eternity, this is wonderful! But if I think that I will have no memory of my children, my husband, and my loved ones, well, is something that my human understanding processes with sadness.
A friend of mine lost her 12-year-old son and since she hopes to be able to hug him again one day, for her to think that coming into heaven she would not even recognize him would be like a second loss of him and the killing of that hope. This even though surely what God will make us feel will be so great and wonderful that we will not need anything else.
So, reading the answer you gave to a question similar to mine, I felt much relief, because you, Father, said that not only would we recognize each other, but that God will make our relationships even more perfect, and that we will continue to feel the affections that we experienced in life in a higher and more beautiful way.
And so far it is all clear to me, so I talked to this dear friend of mine and told her what I had learned, and she asked me what my source was.
So, Father, I turn the question to you:
From what sources do you get this awareness?
Are these your own theories, or did you learn them through visions of saints / mystics, or in some other way?
Thank you very much for your answer, Father.
God bless you.
Answer from the priest
Dear friend,
1. The Communion of Saints is not my own theory, nor did I learn it from the revelations of mystics or saints, but from what God said.
From Sacred Scripture we learn that the life of Heaven is a life of communion with God and of the communion of Saints.
In fact, St. Paul says that “love (which is to say Communion with God and neighbor) never fails” (1 Cor 13:8).
Therefore, the communion that begins here, if it is a communion in the Lord, will last eternally.
It would be very strange if after having lived in communion with Our Lady, with the Angels and the Saints in this life, all of this failed upon entering Heaven.
Something would be missing from our bliss.
2. If the Lord wants the present life to be lived in communion with one another, why shouldn’t the life of Heaven – which is the fulfillment of what we have begun to live here – be one of communion?
In the first Christian community “all who believed were together and had all things in common” (Acts 2:44).
In Paradise this communion will become perfect, indissoluble, and everlasting.
Indeed, everyone will rejoice in the joy of the other, they will be pleased with their victory, with the good works they have done on earth, with the victories achieved against temptations, with the final success.
3. In the Apostles’ Creed (the somewhat shorter form of the creed that is usually recited during Lent and Easter) it is said: “I believe in the communion of Saints, and life everlasting. Amen.”
In Baptism we have already become “fellow citizens with the holy ones” (Eph 2:19).
In the other life, this communion will be fulfilled.
4. The Lord explicitly refers to this communion when He praises the faith of the Centurion, saying: “I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the kingdom of heaven, but the children of the kingdom will be driven out into the outer darkness, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth” (Mt 8:11-12).
Therefore Heaven is also sitting at the banquet, that is, perfect sharing, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with our Saints, with our loved ones.
5. Heaven is at the same time communion with the Lord and with his friends, who are the Saints, the saved ones: “It is you who have stood by me in my trials; and I confer a kingdom on you, just as my Father has conferred one on me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom; and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Lk 22:28-30).
6. And again: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be” (Jn 14:3).
And: “I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.
And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.” (Jn 17:20-23).
7. When St. Paul speaks of the end of the world he says that we will be caught up to meet the Lord and “thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thes 4:17).
Certainly the bliss of Heaven is in being with the Lord.
But just as the Lord wanted us to help each other to be with Him by living in charity, so he wants us to enjoy Heaven all together in perfect unity, also among us.
With the wish to be together forever, I keep you in my prayer and I bless you.
Father Angelo
