What do you think? Question of the Month



We're asking our readers during the month of March what they think Heaven will be like. Share with our viewership your opinion. Will we have glorified bodies? If so, what will they be like? Will our pets be in Heaven? Let us know what you think. Leave your thoughts in the coments section of this post.

Allen said: In heavan we will indeed have glorified bodies. John Paul II in his theology of the body says that in heaven "what is essentially human will be divinized by what is essentially divine." Furthermore, everything im our humanity will be taken up with seeing God face to face.

Anonymous said: In Heaven we will have all we need to be happy. My priest said that if our pets make us happy in this life, we will have them in the next life.

Jon said: I don't expect an answer but I have to wonder what age our bodies will be. Youth, middle age or old age?

Robert said: Glorified bodies - you betcha! St. Thomas (following the Fathers and Doctors of the Church) notes that most of what we can know about heaven is based on what we know about Christ's resurrection.

As for pets ... on the one hand, non-rational souls probably aren't immortal. On the other hand, St. Paul tells us, "All creation" is waiting for the general resurrection and last judgment.

My personal guess is that all of creation will somehow be glorified in the last judgment. But I don't know what that means for Fifi.

Anonymous said: I think the argument about having pets in heaven is a little more subtle than "if they make us happy in this life, we will have them in the next life." By that argument, heaven for me will feature video games and cereal. Rather, I've heard it argued that "if we need our pets for it to be a heaven, then our pets will be in heaven." That's just another way of saying that in heaven, our every true longing will be fulfilled. If a person, purged of every disordered desire and every inclination towards sin and away from God, could still be capable of wanting the companionship of their pet, then God would not let that longing go unfulfilled, or he would fulfill it in some undreamed of way. And who are we to guess now whether the love of a pet, a wholesome thing even if prone to excess, could not remain with us in the blessedness that God has prepared for us?

Comments

Allen said…
In heavan we will indeed have glorified bodies. John Paul II in his theology of the body says that in heaven "what is essentially human will be divinized by what is essentially divine." Furthermore, everything im our humanity will be taken up with seeing God face to face.
Anonymous said…
In Heaven we will have all we need to be happy. My priest said that if our pets make us happy in this life, we will have them in the next life.
Jon said…
I don't expect an answer but I have to wonder what age our bodies will be. Youth, middle age or old age?
Matthew Coffin said…
I suspect our ressurected bodies will not be very old or very young but in the prime of life.
Robert said…
Glorified bodies - you betcha! St. Thomas (following the Fathers and Doctors of the Church) notes that most of what we can know about heaven is based on what we know about Christ's resurrection.

As for pets ... on the one hand, non-rational souls probably aren't immortal. On the other hand, St. Paul tells us, "All creation" is waiting for the general resurrection and last judgment.

My personal guess is that all of creation will somehow be glorified in the last judgment. But I don't know what that means for Fifi.
Anonymous said…
I think the argument about having pets in heaven is a little more subtle than "if they make us happy in this life, we will have them in the next life." By that argument, heaven for me will feature video games and cereal. Rather, I've heard it argued that "if we need our pets for it to be a heaven, then our pets will be in heaven." That's just another way of saying that in heaven, our every true longing will be fulfilled. If a person, purged of every disordered desire and every inclination towards sin and away from God, could still be capable of wanting the companionship of their pet, then God would not let that longing go unfulfilled, or he would fulfill it in some undreamed of way. And who are we to guess now whether the love of a pet, a wholesome thing even if prone to excess, could not remain with us in the blessedness that God has prepared for us?