The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 142: The New Heaven and the New Earth (2024)

Episode Date: May 21, 2024

What will happen to humanity and the entire universe at the end of time? Fr. Mike shares with us the joyous hope of the new heaven and the new earth that awaits us after the Last Judgment. We learn that “at the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness,” and all of creation will be redeemed and renewed. There will be no more weeping, mourning, nor pain, for death shall be no more. Fr. Mike invites us to hold on to this hope as we struggle on this side of heaven and await this great promise. Today’s Catechism readings are paragraphs 1042-1050. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in scripture and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a Year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family as we journey Together Toward Our Heavenly Home. This is Day 142. You guys, we have two days left of this pillar and then we're on to pillar two.

We're reading paragraphs 1042 to 1050. I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the Foundations of Faith approach, but you can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. You can also download your own Catechism in a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C I Y and lastly you can click follow or subscribe to your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications today is day 142 reading paragraphs 1042 to 1050. We are talking about the hope of a new heaven and the new earth yesterday was the last judgment right? The final judgment that is placed on all of creation.

But what happens to the cosmos, right? What happens to not just humanity, although we're talking about that in paragraph 1045, but also 1046 and following. What happens to the universe? What happens to all created things? And there's something so powerful about this. We're talking today about the fact that

at the end of time, when all things are brought to rights, and we talked about this yesterday, when all things are brought to rights, and we talked about this yesterday, when all things are brought to rights, not just humanity will be brought into line with God, but all of creation will be brought into line with God once again. Remember how God created this world. He created this world that was good. There was no darkness in it, no evil in it, no sin, no brokenness.

Death didn't exist, no mourning, nor crying, nor pain. And then what happens? Sin enters the world and we experience all of those things, but there is this promise of God in Revelation chapter 21. We hear this in paragraph 1044. The day will come when God will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away So we're talking today about this hope of the new heavens and the new earth And so let's get started as we long for this this gift of this final day when God doesn't just redeem all humanity

But everything he's created gets redeemed by the work of his son Jesus Christ. So let's pray Father in heaven, we thank you. We thank you and we praise your name. We call upon the name of your son Jesus Who is the Redeemer of the world? He's the Redeemer of man. Of course, absolutely Lord God we say yes to that He's also the Redeemer of your creation Lord God the creation that you made good That we have broken but you still continue to redeem and you still continue to use and bring back to yourself, will one day be fully restored.

We beg for that day in our lives, in our time, we beg for that day to come soon. Because Lord God, we find ourselves walking in the midst of pain. We find ourselves walking in the midst of mourning and of grief and of sorrows and of loss and of pain. We find ourselves walking in the midst of mourning and of grief and of sorrows and of loss and of death. Lord God, until the last day when you restore all things, please meet us in those moments. Please meet us as we walk amid sorrow and grief and sadness and death.

Meet us in the midst of those because we know that you are the God of the living. You're the God who can bring the dead back to life. You are the God who will wipe away every tear and you are the God who meets us in our brokenness. You meet us in our broken hearts. And so until that day, continue to come to us, continue to find us in our brokenness and continue to redeem it, continue to transform it and bring us close to you.

In Jesus name we pray, in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, in the name of the Holy Spirit. Amen. You guys, it is day 142, we're reading paragraphs 1042 to 1050. The Hope of the New Heaven and the New Earth At the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness. After the universal judgment, the righteous will reign forever with Christ, glorified in body and soul. The universe itself will be renewed.

As Lumen Gentium states, the Church will receive her perfection only in the glory of heaven, when will come the time of the renewal of all things. At that time, together with the human race, the universe itself, which is so closely related to man and which attains its destiny through him, will be perfectly re-established in Christ. Sacred Scripture calls this mysterious renewal, which will transform humanity and the world, new heavens and a new earth. It will be the definitive realization of God's plan to bring under a single head all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth.

In this new universe, the heavenly Jerusalem, God will have his dwelling among men. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away. For man, this consummation will be the final realization of the unity of the human race, which God willed from creation, and of which the Pilgrim Church has been in the nature of sacrament. Those who are united with Christ will form the community of the redeemed, the holy city

of God, the bride, the wife of the Lamb. She will not be wounded any longer by sin, stains, self-love that destroy or wound the earthly community. The beatific vision in which God opens himself in an inexhaustible way to the elect will be the ever-flowing wellspring of happiness, peace, and mutual communion. For the cosmos, Revelation affirms the profound common destiny of the material world and man, as St. Paul wrote to the Romans, For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God, in hope

because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now, and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. The visible universe, then, is itself destined to be transformed so that the world itself, restored to its original state, facing no further obstacles, should be at the service of the just, sharing their glorification in the risen Jesus Christ. be at the service of the just, sharing their glorification in the risen Jesus Christ. We know neither the moment of the consummation of the earth and of man, nor the way in which

the universe will be transformed. The form of this world distorted by sin is passing away, and we are taught that God is preparing a new dwelling and a new earth in which righteousness dwells, in which happiness will fill and surpass all the desires of peace arising in the hearts of men. Far from diminishing our concern to develop this earth, the expectancy of a new earth should spur us on, for it is here that the body of a new human family grows, foreshadowing in some way the age which is to come. That is why, although we must be careful to distinguish earthly progress clearly from the increase of the Kingdom of Christ, such progress is of vital concern to the Kingdom

of God insofar as it can contribute to the better ordering of human society. When we have spread on earth the fruits of our nature and our enterprise, according to the command of the Lord and in His Spirit, we will find them once again, cleansed this time from the stain of sin, illuminated and transfigured. When Christ presents to His Father an eternal and universal Kingdom, God will then be all in all in eternal life. As St. Cyril of Jerusalem wrote, true and subsistent life consists in this, the Father,

through the Son and in the Holy Spirit, pouring out His heavenly gifts on all things without exception. Thanks to His mercy, we too, men that we are, have received the inalienable promise of eternal life. Okay, so there we have it, paragraphs 1042-1050. Tomorrow is nugget day, nugget day with a little bonus added on there more on that tomorrow but today oh my goodness gracious the hope of a new heavens and a new earth yesterday again the power of this realization that the whole human story the whole story of creation will be concluded but in this

new universe there will be a place and this is this is a vital concern for all of us that yes every human being will be once again reunited, body and soul. So what a human person is, right, is a body-soul composite, a body-soul duality. And that body needs a place to live, essentially, right? And so here's what scripture is revealing, here's what the Catechism is teaching,

is that all of creation, like the place here, will also be redeemed. That it is not simply a all of creation like the place here will also be redeemed That is not simply a matter of human persons being redeemed human persons having their their material selves right their bodies redeemed and renewed in a completely new way But also the universe itself will be renewed That's one of the reasons why you know some people think of heaven as being relatively you know, some people think of heaven as being relatively boring. And I think we think of heaven as being relatively boring because of, I don't know, I mean, pictures we see.

Where all you have is a robe and some clouds and you just bounce around from cloud to cloud playing your harp. We kind of talked about this before, but let's go back to this. And realize that, yes, that'd be boring. I love trampoline parks, but I get bored at a trampoline park after about an hour and a half. And so if heaven's just a giant trampoline park from cloud

to cloud and yeah, or if heaven is just a giant, you know, harp concert, yes, relatively boring. But question, who created this universe in which we find so much joy and who created this universe in which we find so much beauty and we find so much excitement, find so much adventure. Well God and the same God who created this universe is the creator and the redeemer of the new universe, right? Of the new heaven and the new earth. And so if you and I are fascinated by this world, if you and I look out and we see the Rocky Mountains and say, oh my goodness, that's incredible.

If you and I look at the ocean and think, I could be here forever. I always use this example and I've used it before even in these podcasts. Lake Superior, which is, you know, pretty big body of water, 10% of all the earth's fresh water and that one little lake there. I drive down what's called 21st street in the morning as the sun's rising over Lake Superior

and it's just diamonds on the water. The same God who made that is the one who remakes the heavens and remakes the earth, right? And so there is nothing, nothing even remotely boring about the idea of heaven, life with God forever. Because not only is all the universe restored, but God himself, we have complete access to him. You know, ultimately, God is the point, right? Ultimately, God is the point of all of this.

And so, paragraph 1045 says, Those who are united with Christ will form the community of the redeemed, the holy city of God, the bride, the wife of the Lamb. She will not be wounded any longer by sin, stains, self-love that destroy or wound the earthly community. The beatific vision, in which God opens himself in an inexhaustible way to the elect, will be the ever-flowing wellspring of happiness, peace, and mutual communion.

The beatific vision, in which God opens himself in an inexhaustible way to the elect. God is the point of heaven. Yes, again, redemption, new heavens, new earth, amen. So incredible, beautiful, unimaginable. At the same time, the point of all of it is the vision of God that will have an unmediated encounter with the Lord himself, which I cannot even begin to imagine. And yet, paragraph 1046 says, and yet here's this profound common destiny

that creation waits with eager longing, as St. Paul wrote to the Romans, for the revealing of the sons of God in the hope that because creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay, the whole creation has been groaning in travail until now. And so how do we live now then? Great question, Camper.

How do we live now? Well, we know neither the moment of the consummation of the earth nor the way in which the universe will be transformed So what we have to do is we have to take care of the earth We have that's in fact what paragraph 1049 says paragraph 1049 says, okay One of the things we need to do is yes We recognize that there will be a new creation There will be a new heavens and a new earth and And I know that sometimes if you have like a rental car or like a beater car, you're just staying in a place for the night.

You're not gonna necessarily decorate the place. You're not gonna fix it up. You might even, I mean, some people in their worst moments, they might even kind of trash a place and say, well, it's fine. We're gonna get a new one anyways. Or maybe you've been to that place where you maybe tore down your old house to build a new one.

And before you tore down the old one, you're like, you know what? Leave the stains on the floor. Who even cares? Because we're tearing this down. We're getting a new one. Now that's our brokenness in us, right? That doesn't want to take care of things because we'll just get a new one instead. That is the attitude that the church is counseling against in paragraph 1049, right?

Saying, okay, yes, there will be a new heavens and a new earth, but far from diminishing our concern to develop this earth, the expectancy of a new earth should spur us on, right? Saying, okay, yes, there will be a new heavens and a new earth, but far from diminishing our concern to develop this earth, the expectancy of a new earth should spur us on, right? To be able to say, let's actually not only care for each other, we also can care for this earth. This is actually something we need to be doing. At the same time, we cannot confuse mere progress or development of technology or development of politics or development of education with the advance of the kingdom of God. Now, of course we need to advance and we need to help people around us.

We need to take care of our earth and if we can move forward with more justice and more education and more truth, that's awesome. That's a worthy goal. We also have to realize that the goal, ultimate goal, is what will last forever. So we don't trash what is going to pass just because it'll pass away. We honor it now because it's part of creation. At the same time, we keep our eyes fixed on the Lord. And that's my invitation right now. I just think this is so remarkable that we conclude this little section with this quote from

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, because God will be all in all in eternal life, which is of course from 1 Corinthians chapter 15. At that last day, God will be all in eternal life. But also for us, as Saint Cyril says, he says, thanks to his mercy, we too, men that we are, you can get mortal beings that we are, fallen creatures that we are have received the inalienable promise of eternal life. And again, we only have one more day here. We have one more day of this and it's nugget day with little bonus at the end,

but then we're moving on to the sacramental life, which is awesome. How we worship, we're going to talk with Bishop Andrew Cousins. It's going to be remarkable, But just to pause right now, and to realize that at some point in time, at some point in our lives, Christ will present to his Father an eternal and universal kingdom. When I say in our lives, what I mean is,

you'll still be around. Whether you're around on Earth or around in eternity, we'll be around. And you and I are going to see this happen. You're going to see Christ present to his father and eternal and universal kingdom. This is his mercy that he's promised to us. We've received the inalienable promise of eternal life. Our prayer, of course, is that we use this life on earth in such a way to be able to live with him forever in heaven,

that we use this earth in such a way to be able to enjoy the newer heavens and the new earth forever. I don don't know I just think this is incredible be reminded today of the fact that God has made us in places in this world because he's made us for another world in that other world will be a world of peace of joy and everything, be centered around the one who made it. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike.

I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.