Previously in looking at the Our Father, we reflected on how we strive to usher the Kingdom of God to Earth.  We want it to become a reality.  We are given a blueprint in our quest, for the petition seeks to usher the Kingdom as it is in heaven to earth at this present time.  This request prays to the Lord to bring heaven in some way as a reality here on Earth.  It is a goal to become like the saints.  What does this heavenly reality look like?

              To be in heaven is to be a saint.  Saints are the holy ones who abide with God for eternity.  A saint is someone who surrenders and sacrifices himself for the glory of God.  In this light, the glory of a saint in heaven shines the Truth, Beauty and Goodness of God. 

              A saint shines the Truth of God by striving to fully understand through faith and reason who God is.  This shows that our faith is not a feeling or consolation, rather our faith is a striving to raise our minds to the reality of who God is.  A saint in heaven seeks God for who He is, thus to strive to make this a reality on earth is for us to study our faith.   The Truth is not our version of what we interpret it to be.  The Truth resides in God, and that is what we are striving to bring to our world.

              A saint fully understands what Goodness is.  In the Scripture a few weeks ago, Christ was referred to as a “good teacher,” and His response was “who is good but God alone” (Mark 10:18).  His point was to show that we do not define what a “good Catholic” is.  God is the definition of good, and to be good we must strive to become like God in our actions.  This involves living out the commandments and the beatitudes.  Following all that God handed to Israel and the teachings of Christ.   We must do the good of God to bring the Kingdom of Heaven into our earthly reality.

              Finally, a saint loves the beautiful.  We like to say, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, but in regards to God, the fullness of beauty is found in the beatific vision.  Seeing God in heaven is the ultimate beauty we are striving for.  On earth, we seek to find the beauty around us that reflects heaven and eternity.  What do we see in the world around us that raises our minds to heaven?  How does art do that?  Does church architecture do that? In this way, beauty is not “in the eye of the beholder”.  Beauty is God, and when we see God in others and creation we see the beauty of God.

              To bring the kingdom to earth as it is in heaven, we must strive to be saints.  Saints seek after what is True, Good, and Beautiful about God.  Let us seek these eternal realities in our own lives to join the Kingdom of Heaven to us right now.