Our citizenship is in heaven.

Remembering Robert Osburn

On Wednesday November 1, we celebrated the Feast of All Saints. Saints are in heaven with God. On Thursday, November 2, we commemorated All Souls, a day when we remember all the faithful departed. “All Souls” is a day focused on the Church in Heaven, an opportunity to remember the souls of the departed. Today, we are remembering our dear friend Robert Osburn, who was called back to his heavenly home twelve years ago, the 12th of this month. Let us never think that people who have passed away are dead and gone. They have entered into their eternity. In this Sunday’s epistle, Saint Paul proclaims that “our citizenship is in heaven.” What does that mean? And what/where is heaven anyway? How does one get there?

Heaven is not a location in the cosmos, but a place within God where those who believe in him will enjoy his love forever. With the term “heaven” we want to affirm that God – the God who made Himself close to us – does not abandon us even in and beyond death, but He has a place for us and gives us eternity; we want to affirm that within God there is a place for us. To understand this reality a bit, we can look at our own lives. All of us have experienced the loss of a loved one, yet our departed, though no longer physically present, continues to live in our heart and memories. With God, who created and loves each person, someone who dies is not just a fond memory, but continues to exist fully in those left behind.

Our serenity, hope and peace are based precisely on this: in God, in His thoughts and his love, we will survive, not just as a “shadow” of ourselves; but in Him and in His eternal love, we are protected and led into eternity with our whole lives and our whole beings. God’s love is what defeats the power of death and brings eternal life, and it is this love that we call “heaven.” Nothing that is precious and dear to us will fall to ruin, but rather it will find its fullness in God.