CATHOLIC CATECHISM

HEAVEN: FINALLY HOME

People sometimes complain we Catholics are too much focussing on the hereafter and too little on the here and now. This does make some sense. It's important, then, to distinguish which earthly things do have real value for eternity. It's mainly about our devotion to things vulnerable: nature, animals, kids, sick people. But it's also about devotion to the hidden beauty of mathematics, or music, or poetry. The financial crisis invites us to take care we only invest our money and labour in things really durable.
However, we should not forget that the hereafter doesn't only relate to earthly things which have value for eternity. The philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas demonstrates that each of us will live on as a person after death, and this is what Jesus tells us in the Gospel.

This is the very reason why we feel attracted to, for example, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, on whose grave it says: "Je veux passer mon ciel à faire du bien sur la terre" - "I want to spend my heaven doing good on the earth". She urges us to trust in God "as a child who's trusting in the love of its parents". By the way, her feast day happens to be tomorrow, the first day of October. So it's also the first day of the rosary month.
Let's fight injustice, but bear no malice. Let's take some time for a moment of silence and prayer with the chaplet before a statue of virgin Mary. And let us sing every now and then a beautiful song that elevates our hearts to heaven, like the time honoured O rosary I love you, or the well known O Star of the Sea:

Most pure in creation, in heaven the Queen, who always a pointer to Jesus hath been,
hear well, mother Mary, your Infant and me, and pray for compassion, o Star of the Sea.
If storm's raging over the ship of my soul, my life is in danger of missing its goal,
calm down, virgin Mary, the storm by your plea, and lead us to heaven, o Star of the Sea.