Editor:
With so many serious theological questions that should be addressed, it seems to me to be "Much Ado About Nothing" as the issue of heaven and what it is supposedly like, per the article entitled "Vatican Letter" in The Visitor ( 2/8).
I don't buy into the statement of Father (Carlo) Buzzetti or the pastors who think the way that heaven is portrayed is upsetting to modern Catholics. There are certainly many theological questions that are upsetting to the "modern Catholic" but a description of what someone may think heaven is like is not relevant to most. It is more important that there is a simple belief in heaven and not a useless, vain attempt to make it seem more attractive in human terms. If you believe in a life hereafter (a heaven), don't worry about how it will be dressed up, just live in a manner that will get you there. Don't try to define in exact detail the infinite from the finite, or time and eternity.
Passage number 1027 from the Catechism says it as it is, "The mystery of blessed communion with God and all who are in Christ is beyond all understanding." More simply put, all we need to know and believe is that "God made us to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this world and to be happy with Him forever in the next." (Baltimore Catechism).
Now, let us not waste any more time on unexplainable things but rather address those items that are on the ladder which we must climb everyday if we are to reach our eternal goal of "heaven," where we will be happy no matter what it is like!
John P. Lynch
Smithfield
(This letter originally appeared in The Providence Visitor)
