All the way to Heaven...

"All the way to Heaven is heaven..."
St. Catherine of Siena

I think it was Sr. Mary Beverly from Marymount Hermitage that said this to me first. I was rejoicing in being there and loving each and every minute of my retreat. It totally fit that she should proclaim it "heaven" because it sure felt like heaven! In yesterday's Daily Meditation, Fr. Richard Rohr credits St. Catherine for this and also says that Dorothy Day often said it too. It seems that there are others who, like me, are too impatient to wait to experience heaven only after we die. Some of us want to experience heaven here! And why not? Jesus said the Kingdom of heaven is here...now. The Kingdom lives within us, among us.  We needn't await the Kingdom. But it doesn't feel like what we have grown to think heaven being--what with hard things happening all around us. Things were as bad when Jesus came into the world. In fact, times were terrible when and where Jesus was born but that didn't stop Jesus from coming. And that shouldn't stop us from celebrating the Kingdom-Heaven, all the way to heaven. God resides in our world within our very own hearts. God is here and God just asks that we open our eyes to see. Dear Friends, I will be away for a few days so will take this chance to wish you so many blessings of the season!  See you after Christmas...Love, heidi