I’ve always wondered what it must have been like for the astronauts who walked on the moon when they returned back to earth.
That first night back in bed did they think to themselves, “A couple of days ago, I was walking on the moon and now I’m back on Earth where life carries on”?
Can you imagine how surreal that must be?
My husband told me that many of them struggle because they’ve experienced something so profound that they see much of earthly life as petty.
The other day, I was listening to a podcast where an atheist was being debated by a Catholic on Heaven. The atheist felt like the concept and attempted descriptions at Heaven seem boring. Heaven, if it were real, seems kinda lame to him.
Recently, in the readings on my podcast from “The Interior Castle” from St. Teresa, she has been discussing the effects of rapture. Rapture is an intense closeness with God and a foretaste of Heaven. People that have experienced it struggle to remain here on Earth. All they want to do is get back to that supernatural, intense union with God.
So much of what goes on here on Earth seems petty and pointless to them, similar to the feelings of the astronauts but even more intense and overwhelming.
Just as I can’t possibly imagine what it’s like to stand on the moon and look back on Earth as it glows blue in the vast universe, none of us can possibly imagine the glories of Heaven.
We can try to muster up some kind of idea of what it might be like, Catholic Pilgrims, but, in reality, we will always come up short. Thank goodness Heaven is more—so much more—than what our limited human minds can imagine.
From the descriptions from the Saints who have experienced rapture, or ecstasy, Heaven is anything but boring. They even struggle to find human words to describe it, which means it is beyond our comprehension.
Live the Faith boldly and travel well Tuesday.
