April 9 – Easter Sunday

“There is more.” If there were a slogan for Christianity, I think that this would be it! There is more… There is more joy, more peace, more happiness, freedom, and fulfillment waiting for you. Healing can happen, resurrection is an option, and what you see isn’t just what you get. There is more! There is more to life, more to marriage, more to family, friends, and fellowship than you realize. Jesus is always bringing more for those open to receiving it, and whatever the cross, whatever the roadblocks, whatever the pain, discouragement, and death that we face, there is always more redemption available.

What is striking about the saints is that they never say, “That is enough!” That is enough God, enough charity, enough hope. No, they know that heaven is not just watching the Cubs win the world series (and neither is hell thankfully!), nor is heaven enjoying grandma’s cheesecake again, or throwing a perfect game, or enjoying a good book and a tasty drink at the ocean—wonderful as these things are! Heaven doesn’t just satisfy our desire for pleasure, knowledge, and beauty, but also goodness, love, and belonging as well. All of the best memories in our lives, all of the greatest achievements, and even something more.

The saints were never fully satisfied in this life not because they didn’t enjoy life, or experience profound relationships, or achieve great feats—au contraire! They knew how to enjoy life in the best ways possible! Rather, they were never fully satisfied in this life because they knew that even these things were only a dim reflection of the glory to come. God always has even more in store. 

How do you fit the infinite into something finite? You don’t. That’s why in heaven there will be an eternity of wonder, an eternity of new life, an eternity of deepened love. Heaven could never be “boring” because by definition, as C.S. Lewis put it, it’s an eternity of joyfully traveling “further up and further in”! 

“Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him!” (1 Cor 2:9) In a post-Easter world, we can take to heart St. Paul’s exhortation, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!” For when it comes to life in Christ, life in His Church, and life as God’s beloved child, there is always more!

Father James