"As the new Heaven and Earth will represent the fullness of creation, we will also enjoy the fullness of our gifts"
Saint Raphael the Archangel, © Lawrence Klimecki
How will we live in the new Heaven and the new Earth? Will the creatives among us continue to create? Will there be work? Will we be bored, siting on clouds and playing harps for eternity? These questions have been asked for thousands of years, except maybe for the clouds and harps bit, that is relatively recent. The short answer is that we simply do not know. Saint Paul tells us “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him,” 1Corinthians 2:9
Will we work in Heaven?
Still, we do have some clues from which we can make certain deductions. Let's start with work. Before the Fall, man and God lived together in Eden according to the divine plan. In Genesis 1:28 God tells man to “fill” the earth. “Fill” is a translation of the Hebrew word “malé.” Malé has a very rich meaning. Adam is being tasked with consecrating the earth and bringing it to completion.
In the second chapter of Genesis, man is told to “till and to keep” the garden, Genesis 2:15. “Till” and “keep,” in Hebrew, “abad” and “shamar,” can also be translated to protect and to serve. Before the Fall of Man, man was tasked to serve, protect, and bring to fulfillment, God's creation.
After his disobedience and the subsequent loss of grace, man is told that from now on he will eat in pain, sorrow, and hardship. Genesis 3:17.And, “In the sweat of your face, you shall eat your bread.”Genesis 3:19. A great change has occurred in our relationship to creation. What was once a joy (Eden) has become a burdensome labor.
The new Heaven and the new Earth represent a restoration or a renewal of creation according to God's original plan. If there is work for us to do, it will be joyful.
Will we become angels?
But because we cannot know exactly what awaits us, it is part of our human nature to offer conjecture.
Do we become angels when we die? Many people seem to think so, due in part to popular movies saying as much. While the movies may be entertaining and the notion is a comforting thought, it does not correspond to Church teaching.
And then there is this:
"...those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels;" Luke 20:35-36
To understand the words of Jesus we must start with an understanding of the purpose of the sacraments. What is the purpose and function of the sacraments of the Church? Are they merely formalities, symbolic touchstones marking our progress through life? Because of our short finite time here on earth we tend to have a short-sighted, finite view of the transcendent things of Heaven.
The Sacrament of Matrimony is a good example. It is far more than just the blessing of the Church bestowed on a newly wed couple. Understanding Jesus' argument with the Saducees helps us to understand the power and significance of the sacraments.
Jesus has been in the temple courtyard for many days, preaching and answering the attacks of the Pharisees. The Saducees now take their turn and ask Him a complicated theological question designed to undermine belief in the Resurrection.
But the answer Jesus gives points out the problem with the question. The Saducees thinking betrays a fallen worldview.
“…for they are like angels;” Did Jesus say we will become angels when we die? It is popular misconception.
But in fact this is not what Jesus said. The entire exchange with the Sadducees takes place within the context of the meaning of the sacrament of marriage.
Man was created to be in perfect communion with God. We needed no sacraments in the Garden of Eden for we saw God face to face and were completely united to His grace. For the same reason we will not need the sacraments in the coming age and the resurrection of the dead. The love shared between two individuals will be more fully realized, but there will no longer be a need for the sacrament of Matrimony. In that sense we will be like the angels in heaven.
Creativity in the age to come
In his allegorical tale, “Leaf by Niggle,” JRR Tolkien offers us a glimpse of the World to Come seen through the eyes of a painter. Niggle had been working on a painting of a great tree when he was called away. In “Heaven” he is greeted by this sight.
“Before him stood the Tree, his Tree, finished... All the leaves he had ever laboured at were there, as he had imagined them rather than as he had made them; and there were others that had only budded in his mind, and many that might have budded, if only he had had time.”
For artists of all types it is immensely comforting to reflect upon the idea that our work is not lost but rather finds its' fulfillment in the new Earth. The songs and paintings we worked on will be seen as we imagined them, rather than as they were realized in the fallen world. This includes all those grand ideas that we never had time for.
Our gifts and talents, given to us in a unique combination not given to anyone else, contributes to our individuality. As the new Heaven and Earth will represent the fullness of creation, we will also enjoy the fullness of our gifts. Does that mean we will continue to write, and paint, and compose new songs? Perhaps, but remember that all these activities are our individual expression of our artistic vocation. In his “Letter to Artists,” pope Saint John Paul II wrote that the vocation of the artist is Beauty. In this fallen world we work to restore the beauty lost to us through Original Sin. We do this by employing our gifts and talents. I believe in the age to come we will continue our vocation of adding to the Beauty of creation. Exactly how we will do that remains to be seen, but we have been given the gift of creativity for a reason. And whatever amount of Beauty we can add to the world, great or small, matters.
Imagine a night sky, full of stars. Off in one corner there is a distant star whose light is so dim it is barely discernible. If the light of that star were extinguished, we might not notice, but even so, without that faint light, the beauty of the night sky is less than what it might have been. All of our contributions, great and small, in this world and in the world to come, matter.
Creativity and the Sacraments
We live in a fallen world. God ordered the sacraments as a means of conveying grace to us. Each of the sacraments brings us closer to God and closer to the union we were always meant to share. As a source of grace, the sacraments help us to follow the Lord, even in the face of opposition. The sacraments direct us to the proper use of our gifts, our talents and our creativity.
As followers of Christ we are constantly under attack. The Adversary takes every opportunity to separate us from God and hold our beliefs up to ridicule. Sin then becomes normalized and when we lose our sense of sin, we lose our sense of need for the sacraments. When that happens we given up a little more ground to the enemy.
Pax vobiscum
32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mary, Undoer of Knots © Lawrence Klimecki
Pontifex University is an online university offering a Master’s Degree in Sacred Arts. For more information visit the website at www.pontifex.university
Lawrence Klimecki, MSA, is a deacon in the Diocese of Sacramento. He is a public speaker, writer, and artist, reflecting on the intersection of art and faith and the spiritual “hero’s journey” that is part of every person’s life. He maintains a blog at www.DeaconLawrence.org and can be reached at Lawrence@deaconlawrence.com
For more information on original art, print and commissions, Please visit www.DeaconLawrence.org
