One of my favorite Gospel passages is John 14:2-3.
“In my Father’s house, there are many dwelling places. If there were not, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will return again, and then I will take you to myself, so that where I am, you also may be.”
via Catholic Public Domain Version of the Sacred Bible.
I have often comforted myself by fantasizing what my dwelling place might be like, assuming I make it to Heaven. Some translations read “mansion” instead of “dwelling place”; I think the latter is more accessible and leaves things more open to one’s imagination. I don’t care what my abode in Heaven might be, a rundown shack would be fine. 😉
Home. Our true home, which we will always possess and never lose. Safety and security are not even worries. Our place, for all eternity where we can host and entertain loved ones and countless others.
Sometimes I wonder if the place is a combination home and, for lack of a better term, museum. If we make it to Heaven, will our homes there be also a sort of “museum” of our life on Earth? That the rooms may represent different distinct eras of our lives, filled with things from that era, as a sort of reliquary of “souvenirs” or “mementos” of our Earthly exile?
Not that it would be important, but it’s an interesting curiosity of mine, and probably means that I’m still too attached to things. 😉 But it would be fascinating to see such dwelling places from people of different centuries.
Just some odd thoughts that come to me when I think of Heaven…
NOTE: This is a “retropost,” a post from an old blog I wrote on “The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven (& Purgatory) and Hell” that I shuttered a few years ago. Individual posts are being transferred to either In Exile or Sober Catholic, whichever seemed appropriate. Some are backdated, others postdated, in case you’re confused as to why you never saw a particular post if you’re a diligent reader. The process should be completed during by the end of 2020, and all posts finally “will to have been published” (tense of future past 😉 ) by the Easter 2021.
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