Heaven is to have God himself
Title page of Nepveu’s Meditations for Every Day in the Month
Today's Devotional
I thirst for truth, but shall not drink it till I reach the source—Browning
What is heaven? It is a country whose inhabitants possess nothing except God himself. In heaven we shall see God, we shall possess God, we shall love and enjoy God. We shall see him face to face. We shall possess God without the fear of losing him. We shall love him uninterruptedly, perfectly and undividedly, for he will fill each heart entirely. We shall enjoy him unceasingly, because each moment new beauties will radiate from him. Though always the same in himself, he will be forever new to us. Hence the words of St. John in the Apocalypse: “And they sang as it were a new song” (Revelation 14:3).
In seeing and possessing God in heaven, we shall become like to God: holy, pure, wise, powerful, and happy: sharing the happiness of God himself, a pure, constant, universal, and eternal happiness. We shall be transformed into him; our wills, our affections, our desires, will be like God’s. He will be all things to us, and we shall find our all in him. He alone, O Lord, who can conceive what you are, can conceive the things you have prepared for those who love you....
When, O my Savior ... shall I see you robed in your splendor? When will you fill my soul with this torrent of pleasures that inundates the holy city of Zion? —François Nepveu
About the author and the source
Robert Browning (1812–1889) was one of the most famous Victorian poets. François Nepveu (1639–1708) joined the Jesuits when he was fifteen, becoming a popular author and a director of religious retreats.
C.M.T. Browning Year Book. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1892.
François Nepveu. Meditations for Every Day in the Month, translated from Reflexions Chretiennes...by Francis A. Ryan. New York: Benziger Brothers, 1911.