IN HEAVEN WHILE ON EARTH

IN HEAVEN WHILE ON EARTH
Direct contact

When we are in the ‘state of grace’ we possess the three greatest powers we call the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity. These virtues are infused into our soul along with Sanctifying Grace. That means we are given the power and inclination to make acts of these virtues along with a supernatural merit with it. However, since these are infused, and not acquired through repeated practice, it does not necessarily make it easy for us to practice these virtues.

So then we ought to exercise these sort of ‘spiritual muscles’ by making frequent acts of faith, hope, and charity. For if we don't use them we lose them.

But how we do make acts of these theological virtues? We make an act of faith by expressing our conscious assent, whether interiorly or verbally, to the truths of our Faith as when we pray the Creed or the ‘Act of Faith’. This should also include our heartfelt expression of our total commitment and self-surrender to God.

An act of hope would be the inner conviction and conscious expression of our trust and confidence in God's love, goodness, and power; that in His Mercy He will bring us to Heaven. In other words, no one loses Heaven except by one's own fault, by one's non- cooperation with God’s grace.Temporal goods could also be objects of hope insofar as they lead to our salvation.

An act of love is the expression, either internally, in mind and heart, or verbally– of our love for God above everybody and everything else for His own sake, and our neighbor for the love of God.

By these acts we honor and worship God explicitly; and so these acts should figure prominently in our prayers. As we begin our day we may pray: “O My God I believe, I adore, I trust, I hope, and I love Thee, I beg pardon for those who do not believe….” Or better still, to pray fervently the Acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity. We pray it truly and sincerely, meaning every word of it, arousing in our hearts genuine love and adoration of God. Then we can renew these acts any time of the day.

It is true that the soul in the ‘state of grace’ is ‘habitually’ united with God, but this union becomes ACTUAL only when the soul turns to God in living faith, hope and charity (by the acts of these virtues). And repeated acts of these virtues deepen and intensify this sanctity. It is also by these acts that the image of God in the soul becomes wholly actual.

It is not easy for us to realize this awesome reality. We tend to think that faith is believing in God who nevertheless remains remote, that hope is trusting that God will eventually help us, that Charity is a longing for God who remains distant. But faith, hope, and charity here and now bridge the gap, the chasm between God and the soul. “When the soul believes in God in living faith, God is as present in and to the soul as He will be in Heaven. Nothing whatever separates the soul from the being of God except the veil of the present life. In the act of hope, the soul already possesses for its own use the omnipotence of God. In the act of charity, it is already united to God in an immediate spiritual embrace. These sublime acts establish true and direct contact between the soul of the creature and the Infinite Spirit of God”. ( Ashley OP) As the Catechism says: “They (the Theological Virtues) are the pledge of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the faculties of the human being.” (CCC 1813)

Indeed genuine Christian prayer ought to be a conversation with God flowering into acts of faith, hope, and charity, along with HUMILITY, the condition of their full exercise. And so if in our period of prayer we have sincerely tried to make acts of faith, hope, and charity our prayer has been fruitful; we have achieved union with God. Of course sanctity is not possible without observing the Commandments. But it is in genuine prayer that we are moved to repentance and detest our sins. It is also in this union that Charity is inflamed in us, the very thread that runs throughout the whole fabric of Christian life. May we then be convinced that “when we believe, our Lord truly speaks to us; when we hope, we are truly experiencing the strength of His Almighty arm supporting us; when we love, we are loved in return by Infinite Love”. (Ashley OP)

*** Thoughts gleaned from: “The Beginner at Mental Prayer “ by Benedict M Ashley OP; "The Faith Explained" by Leo Trese; and the Catechism of the Catholic Church