(Deeptranslator)
He showed me the river of the water of life clear as crystal, from the throne of God and the Lamb. In the middle of his square, and on either side of the river, is the tree of life, which bears fruit twelve times (...). In it will be the throne of God and of the Lamb, and his servants will worship him, will see his face and will have his name engraved on their foreheads. The Holy Scripture ends where it began: in Paradise. And the readings of this last day of the liturgical year point to the end of our journey here on earth: the Father's House, our final dwelling place,
The Revelation teaches us, by means of symbols, the reality of eternal life, where the yearning of man will be fulfilled: the vision of God and happiness without end and without end. In this reading, St. John presents us with the encounter of those who were faithful in this life: water is the symbol of the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, represented by the river that rises from the throne of God and the Lamb. The name of God on the foreheads of the chosen expresses their belonging to the Lord. In Heaven there will be no more night: no light or lamp or sun will be needed, for the Lord God will shine upon them and reign forever and ever.
The death of the children of God will be only the previous step, the indispensable condition, to be reunited with their Father God and to remain with him for all eternity. With him there will be no more night. To the extent that we grow in the sense of divine sonship, we lose the fear of death, because we feel more strongly the desire to meet our Father, who awaits us. This life is only the path to him; "that is why it is necessary to live and work in time, carrying in our hearts a longing for heaven.
Many men, however, do not have this "nostalgia for Heaven" in their hearts because they are satisfied with their prosperity and material comfort and feel as if they were in their own and definitive home, forgetting that we do not have a permanent dwelling place here and that our heart is made for eternal goods. They have dwarfed their hearts and filled them with things which are of little or no value, and which they will leave for ever in a not too long time.
We Christians love life and all that we find noble in it: friendship, work, joy, human love..., and it should not surprise us that at the time of leaving this world we experience a certain fear and disquiet, because body and soul were created by God to be united and we only have experience of this world. Nevertheless, faith will give us the ineffable comfort of knowing that life is transformed, not lost; and as the house of our earthly habitation is undone, an eternal dwelling place is prepared for us in Heaven. Then Life awaits us.
The children of God will marvel in glory at all the perfections of their Father, of which they had only a foretaste on earth. And they will feel fully at home, in their already definitive abode, in the bosom of the Blessed Trinity.
That is why we can exclaim: "If we don't die, we change house and nothing else! With faith and love, Christians have this hope; a certain hope. It is only a goodbye. We had to die saying goodbye like this: see you later!"
Hablar con Dios