“Joys” mean true happiness, not fleeting pleasures

“Eternal” means forever, without end

“Heaven” means the place of God’s perfect Kingdom

So, He’s promising us true happiness, without end, lived together with Him.

Surely, that can’t get boring, right? But a part of us still wonders: Will we get our fill of that at some point, and then be bored for all eternity?

Well, such a question comes from our fallen human nature, which is easily bored with the things of this world, which often seeks its own ends, and which has not yet known eternal joy.

But rest assured, Heaven will answer all of our human desires, because those desires will have been transformed by God’s face-to-face love into the true desires of the human heart. Thus we will have been “fitted for Heaven” (to paraphrase George Weigel), and thus we’ll be content there for all eternity. In other words, what we truly desire and what Heaven offers will be one and the same.

© Credo Veritas 10-14-21

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“The Kingdom of Heaven! That was one of our Lord’s favorite topics, and he tried so hard to make us understand what it is like. . . . We shall be united with the One Whom our soul loves, and this union will be more intense and more tender than any union between the most loving couple here on earth. . . . We shall know God as He is. Therefore, we shall love HIm to an extent inconceivable to us now. We shall be at rest. We shall be happy. . . . . We shall be together with the Man of Nazareth.” -- Maria von Trapp (of The Sound of Music fame)

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“In eternal life, man is united to God. God Himself is our reward and the end of all our labors . . . . Eternal life is the perfect fulfillment of desires, since each of the blessed will have more than he desired or hoped for. . . . The reason is that in this life no man can fulfill his desires . . . , for God alone satisfies and infinitely surpasses man’s desires, which for that reason is never at rest except in God: “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.” {St. Augustine*} And since in Heaven the saints will possess God perfectly, it is evident that their desires will be satisfied and that their glory will surpass their expectations . . . .

Thus, if we desire pleasure, there will be supreme and most perfect delight, in that its object will be God, the sovereign good . . . . Likewise, if we desire honors, all honor will be there. If we desire knowledge, there will be most perfect knowledge, because we shall know all he nature of things and all truth -- and whatever we wish, we shall know. We shall possess whatever we desire to possess, together with eternal life itself . . . . Eternal life consists in perfect security. . . . [ ; ] in eternal life there is neither sorrow, nor toil, nor fear . . . . Eternal life consists in the pleasant companionship of all the blessed, a companionship that is replete with delight, since each one will possess all good things together with the blessed. They will all love one another as themselves, and therefore will rejoice in the happiness of others’ goods as their own. Consequently the joy and gladness of one will be as great as the joy of all.” -- St. Thomas Aquinas

[*St. Augustine himself was no stranger to the pursuit of earthly pleasures during his pre-conversion youth.]