What do you think heaven will be like?

There are so many things about heaven that are a mystery. But one thing we know for sure is that Mary is already there, body and soul. The beautiful teaching of Mary’s Assumption into heaven has been evident in Church history since the beginning, but it was the writing of a monk living in Jerusalem in the 700s that helped reveal its power and significance.

Saint John Damascene was a monk, priest, and Doctor of the Church. He is often referred to as the Doctor of the Assumption because of his writings and teachings on Mary’s Assumption, body and soul, into heaven. John wrote, “When [Mary] departed her body was preserved from destruction and only taken to a better and more divine tabernacle, which is not subject to any death…Hence I will call her holy passing not death, but falling asleep [dormition] or departure, or better still, arrival….” 

Can you imagine that? Can you imagine heaven? It is good for us from time to time to think about what it might be like, and at the same time to be ever mindful that it is infinitely better than we can even imagine. 

St. Paul reminds us, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no heart can conceive, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Heaven is more beautiful than the most beautiful thing you have ever seen. It is more beautiful than the most beautiful thing you have ever heard. We are simply incapable of conceiving how amazing heaven is.

One of the greatest spiritual dangers is intellectual pride. It is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking we know a lot, when in reality even those among us who know the most know very

little. What we don’t know about God dwarfs what we do know about God. And when it comes to the afterlife, we know even less. But we do know that Mary was taken body and soul into heaven because hers was a life lived entirely for God.

What’s keeping you from just giving everything to God? It’s hard to do when you are still in love with your sins, when you are obsessed with what other people think about you, when you like to be the one in control. Are you ready to surrender once and for all to God? How would your life be different if you did?



Feast Day: December 4

Feast Day Shared By: Saint Barbara

Patron Saint of: Pharmacists, Icon Painters, and Theology Students

Symbols: Severed hand, Icon

Also Known As: The Doctor of the Assumption