The whole Cosmos will be Renewed

Friends in the Lord, in the first reading today, St. Paul, speaking about the next life says, that the sufferings of the present time are nothing, compared to the glory that will be revealed to us; then he says: For creation awaits with eager expectation – he says that creation itself, will be set free from corruption, and that creation is groaning in labor pains.

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The next life, the world to come, involves not just God and angels and mankind, but it also includes all of creation. The Catechism teaches this, in #1042, it says: The universe itself will be renewed: The Church . . . will receive her perfection in the glory of heaven, when will come the time of the renewal of all things. At that time, together with the human race, the universe itself, which is so closely related to man will be perfectly re-established in Christ. Sacred Scripture calls this mysterious renewal the “new heavens and a new earth.’

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Therefore, not only will we be resurrected in our full body and soul alive, but the cosmos itself will be renewed, making a Paradise for us with God. As the Catechism says in 1047, the visible universe, then, is itself destined to be transformed, “so that the world itself, restored to its original state, should be at the service of the just, sharing their glorification in the risen Jesus Christ.’ This is why St. Paul says that creation itself is groaning in eager expectation.

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A new student to our school, who previously had little religious instruction, showed visible enthusiasm on his face, when he heard about the beautiful world that awaits us in heaven. We ourselves should renew our anticipation and hope in the world to come.