Heaven Is Not What You Think: St. Catherine's Shocking Vision

In this powerful episode, we explore the shocking vision of heaven revealed to St. Catherine of Siena, one of the greatest mystics and Doctors of the Catholic Church. Drawing from her spiritual masterpiece The Dialogue, we break open what God the Father told St. Catherine about eternity, virtue, and the unimaginable joy of heaven.

You’ll discover:
Why heaven is far more than we can imagine
How the measure of love in this life affects our eternity
Why not all souls experience heaven the same way
The truth about virtue, hidden sacrifices, and eternal glory
The beauty of shared communion with the saints

Transcript

what if your idea of heaven is just a drop in an endless

ocean of

love what if everything that you've ever imagined about heaven every painting every song every dream barely scratches the surface st katherine of Sienna was shown a vision so powerful it flips our understanding of eternity in this video we'll break open what St catherine saw what the church teaches and why this life right now is your one chance to grow in the love that lasts forever welcome back today is day one of heaven day one of heaven but you have been journeying with us through hell then we went through purgatory that was 16 episodes in total and now heaven get ready for eight episodes on what the saints have seen the revelations uh some really exciting things from St katherine of Sienna so the what we're going to be sharing with you comes from her work called the dialogue where God the Father has a conversation with her and it's really eye opening particularly her revelations about heaven st katherine of Sienna lived between 1347 and 1380 she was a Dominican mystic theologian from a young age she experienced powerful visions and devoted her life to prayer penance and serving the poor though a lay woman with no formal education she advised popes called the church to holiness and authored the dialogue recording her conversations with God the Father she is a doctor of the church and patron of Europe as we journeyed through some of the episodes on hell you might have got the impression that it seems that God is particularly harsh over sometimes just little sins at least they're little in our mind and sometimes people have criticisms about that well how how come because God is so harsh about something so small well here now we will see the flip side of how God is so generous with little things i think we live in a world where good and evil and their consequences are muted to our perception we don't fully understand how evil something is when we commit it nor do we understand the great magnitude of the good actions that we do and so this will become clear as we continue to travel through the mystics of the church in the revelations and particularly St catherine god the Father says the following to St catherine about souls in heaven the goodness of these souls is beyond what your mind's eye can see or your ear hear or your tongue describe or your heart imagine what joy they have in seeing me who am all good now maybe you're thinking "Oh Ken I got a pretty good imagination." Well God the Father is saying "What is in heaven is far beyond the goodness that we could imagine." Now now here's an image for your consideration imagine that I have in my hand a little fishbowl maybe half a liter of water with a single fish now what if I took this fishbowl and I went down to the Caribbean and I weigh it out onto a nice coral reef and I would not dump the fish into the ocean i would submerge the bowl into the ocean to see what would happen next would it not be sad if all that fish did is go around and around in circles in half a liter of water all it would need to do is look out a little farther flap those fins a little bit harder and it would go from this half a liter of water to this infinite ocean of blue that goes all the way around the world you see the fish wasn't made for the fishbowl and you are not made for this world you're made for God and the goodness and the beauty that we have in this world are only shadows of the goodness and beauty that God has for us in other words we're sort of living in a drop and God has an infinite ocean of love for us so I leave that image with you at asking the question is it possible that your understanding of what is good true and beautiful is only a shadow of what God really has in store for you so some wonder if everybody experiences heaven the same way god the Father says to St catherine forever they will rejoice in love at the sight of me sharing in that goodness which I have in myself and which I measure out to them according to the measure of love with which they have come to me so it seems that God the father is saying the measure of love that we have given to him in our earthly life is somehow directly affected to the measure of love that we experience in heaven so to answer that question do all experience heaven in exactly the same way well from this revelation we probably can determine no but this is also consistent with what the council of Florence says they will see clearly the one and triune God himself just as he is yet according to the diversity of merits one more perfectly than another so the church teaches that everyone in heaven does behold the triune God but our experience is different one perceiving him or beholding him one more perfectly than the other now here's an image imagine that uh Janelle and I go on a romantic date which we have planned for tonight don't we yes we do we're going to confession and adoration and then for supper but imagine we do something after all of that we go out and we go look at the stars and we look up into that beautiful starry night with us looking up into the stars the truth is we are seeing the same thing however one more perfectly than the other janelle has 2020 vision i will be wearing my glasses or contacts because if I don't I can see the stars is it true that we are both seeing stars yes but one more perfectly than the other now in heaven we are all beholding God but beholding them more perfectly than the other not according to our eyesight but according to our love and the diversity of merit that we grew in by God's grace in our earthly life god the Father says to St catherine "They are established in love for me and for their neighbors they rejoice and exalt sharing each other's goodness with loving affection besides that universal good which they all possess together sometimes people will reduce heaven's experience to just me and my personal relationship with Jesus well God the Father is saying "No it's it's much more than that there's a rejoicing that a soul has in heaven but there's a shared universal goodness in heaven amongst all the saints." I think we can understand this at a natural level um I know Janelle you're not much of a a sports fan but but I enjoy watching hockey occasionally rarely do I watch the whole game but in the playoffs you know watching hockey what what do you have you have a stadium full of people watching a single event and when your team scores and it's the home mice I mean the place erupts there is a shared joy amongst everyone of what they've just witnessed it's just not a personal experience but that personal experience is amplified by being with everyone in that very moment when your team scores the winning championship goal let's say in the seventh round in overtime in the Stanley Cup playoffs your experience that you share together is much better than if you just celebrated by yourself with no one else you see it points to a very important reality we are made for communion with others and this adds to our joy in heaven a beautiful joy does growth in virtue affect our experience in heaven god the Father says to St catherine "And they rejoice and exalt with the angels with whom they are placed according to their diverse and various virtues in the world being all bound in the bonds of love." So here we can see that the virtuous life has a direct correspondence to one's eternal reward so the greater that we grow in virtue the greater and the different reward that we have in heaven so here's a question well then if virtue is so important for our experience in heaven can we grow in virtue once we get there god the Father says to St catherine after death the elect can no longer grow in virtue by the same principle those just souls who end in loving charity and are bound by love can no longer grow in virtue once time has passed but they can forever love with that same affection with which they came to me and by that measure will it be measured out to them is there anything you want to say well I think in reading that quote it just makes me think that I should really up my love for God because I want to be like having the fullness of what I can potentially experience in heaven this is the point that every little thing matters i think we've foolen oursel in this world because we celebrate what is seen and most of our life is unseen and so a lot of us will struggle with oh I feel underappreciated no one sees what I have done um no one understands the sacrifices that I have gone through yeah that might be true no one in the world has but God sees everything and he's perfectly just and so if you're watching this video and you feel like you've h you've lived a hidden life a life where no one has noticed you no one has seen your good works no one has noticed your prayers no one has noticed your efforts to build the kingdom of God just want to say praise God because God sees and he will reward every little virtuous act of love with some eternal weight of glory so let's strive especially when it is in a secret time where no one sees to love Jesus because yes there is a corresponding degree of glory that we will receive from that but here's the other thing and maybe the most important thing he is worthy of [Music] this friends share with us below what stood out to you and why and we'll end with a prayer [Music] oh my Jesus oh highest good I repent of having so lightly esteemed your grace that I have bartered it away for mere nothing when will it be oh Lord that I shall see you face to face and shall embrace you without the fear of ever having to lose you aid me with your grace this I hope for through your merits more and more increase in me your love and the desire to please you amen

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