~by Susi Pittman

Jesus said: “I am the Resurrection and the life.” ~John 11:25

The Catechism of the Catholic faith teaches us:

That in a certain way we have already risen with Christ. For by virtue of the Holy Spirit, Christian life is already now on earth a participation in the death and Resurrection of Christ. Page 261, paragraph 1002

United with Christ by Baptism, believers already truly participate in the heavenly life of the risen Christ, but this life remains “hidden with Christ in God.” The Father has already “raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Nourished with his body in the Eucharist, we already belong to the Body of Christ. When we rise on the last day we “also will appear with him in glory.” Page 261, Paragraph 1003

Mankind was given the highest place in creation, being given the image of God and offered the role of stewardship of the earth. To be given knowledge and rationale, and the chance to choose to live where Jesus dwells, a place called Heaven, draws upon each person’s capacity to comprehend an existence beyond the natural realm we live in. But, we are told in the Bible that we cannot even imagine it.

St. Paul said it: Eye has not seen or ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for those who love him. ~1 Corinthians 2:9

We celebrate Easter as the fulfillment of our salvation, our “coming home” day by which Christ opened the gates to eternal life in Heaven with our Creator/Father.

In recent years we hear personal accounts from people who have died and returned to life, termed NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE (NDE) in which many times deceased family members, personal pets, visions of beautiful fields, mountains and streams, indescribably beautiful beyond words are encountered or seen. Most all of the people who have experienced this have returned to their lives with a new mission or purpose to share the beauty, love or lesson that they were given to understand. It gives a whole new status to “coming home.”

And he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to whole of creation. ~Mark 16:15

Part of the saving act of the Lord is not just the human person, but also the work, all of creation. I truly believe and the Church teaches that all of creation has been reconciled to God through Christ.

For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according his plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. ~Ephesians 1:9-10

God has no other reason for creating but for His love and goodness.

So, I rejoice in the Resurrection! I rejoice in knowing that all things will be accounted for and rendered back to the Creator through Jesus. I rejoice in awaiting the day when I can walk into the heavenly realm of the glorified natural and communion of saints!

Thank you Jesus for loving every one of us beyond measure!

Praise be your name always and forever!

For you love all things that exist and detest none of the things that you have made; for you would not have made anything if you had hated it. How would anything have endured, if you had not willed it? Or how would anything not called forth by you have been preserved? You spare all things, for they are yours, O Lord, you who love the living. ~Wisdom 11:24-26

Susi Pittman is founder of CatholicStewardsofCreation.com and Owner-President of Twin Oaks Publishing; she is author of Animals in Heaven? Catholics Want to Know!; an advocate for the Florida Catholic Conference; a member of the St. Joseph’s Catholic Council of Women in Jacksonville, Florida; an Associate of the Sisters of St. Joseph, St. Augustine;a member of the Florida Publishers Association, Independent Book Publishers Association, the National Association of Professional Women, the ASPCA, the Humane Society of the United States and the National Audubon society.