# What Is Heaven Like? Reflections on the Our Father and the Promise of Eternal Joy
*2021-02-23*

> Bill and John explore what the Church teaches about heaven, share personal experiences of divine love, and discuss how our prayers, actions, and hope shape our destiny.

## Opening Prayer

Bill and John begin with a prayer to our guardian angels, asking that they guide us toward heaven and protect us in our earthly pilgrimage. They invoke the angels’ tender love, the safeguarding of children, and the perseverance of the faithful until we attain eternal salvation.

## The Lord’s Prayer and Its Meaning

Bill reads Matthew 6:9‑13, reminding listeners that the Father already knows our needs. He emphasizes that forgiveness is reciprocal: "If you forgive others, your heavenly Father will forgive you; if you do not forgive, He will not forgive your transgressions." The passage frames heaven as the ultimate fulfillment of God’s kingdom.

## C.S. Lewis on the Our Father

John summarizes C.S. Lewis’s observation that the prayer does not invite us to become Christ, but rather to imitate Him. Lewis calls the call to “dress up as Christ” a challenge to align our will with the Father’s, not a claim of divinity. Bill agrees, noting that the prayer urges us to become Christ‑like in love and service.

## Personal Glimpses of Heaven

Bill shares a story of praying the Rosary after his aunt Mary Teresa’s death. He describes a sudden, overwhelming sense of love that filled his heart, even extending to strangers at work. He interprets that experience as a foretaste of heaven’s love. Later, during Mother Teresa’s canonization in Rome, Bill recounts a vision of a massive angel above a tree‑shaped cross, with circles of saints attached to clouds—an image that suggested a meeting of heaven and earth.

## Heaven, Earth, and Our Responsibility

The hosts discuss whether heaven can intersect with earthly reality. Bill believes it is possible, citing his vision and the Church’s teaching that the Eucharist makes heaven present on earth. They also examine the role of bishops, priests, and laypeople, stressing that belief must be accompanied by actions consistent with the Gospel. They quote the Catechism (CCC 1024‑1025) on the necessity of being free from mortal sin and living in communion with God to attain heaven.

## Final Thoughts on Judgment

Bill reminds listeners that at the moment of death, Christ judges each soul, leading to one of three outcomes: immediate entrance into heaven, purification in purgatory, or eternal separation in hell. He urges listeners to align belief with love‑filled action, echoing the central message of the Our Father.

*Heaven is ultimately the fullness of God’s love, and we encounter it now by loving God and neighbor with the same self‑sacrificial love.*