A reflection on Revelation 21:1–2 for Friday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time.
I usually think of heaven as somewhere we go after death. In John’s vision, Jerusalem comes down from heaven. There is a new earth too. It makes me question how I picture eternal life.
When I hear ‘a new earth,’ I also think about land that has been poisoned and places where people cannot safely live because of pollution, war, or natural disasters. Does renewal mean those places will be healed? I wish John said more.
John sees a city. That interests me because I tend to picture heaven as a peaceful place without many of the difficulties of living together. Yet his image includes a whole community. I wonder what that life would be like.
I find myself thinking about how much of our life with God involves places: a church, a home, the ground where someone we love is buried. These are places of connection to the community for me. I hope something of what makes these places dear to us will remain, though I cannot imagine how.
I can understand repairing a house. But what does renewal mean for land where nothing will grow, or a whole town people have had to leave?.
Lord, I do not know what your renewed earth will look like. Remember those whose homes and land have been destroyed. Help us care for them while we wait for what you have promised. Amen.
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