Jesus and the saints can be our guides to cultivating the Christian life with one foot in heaven and one on earth
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
I wonder if we might live more deliberately with one foot in both worlds — heaven and earth. We certainly have a lineup of feast days this week to help us consider it.
On Sept. 29 we celebrate the feast of the archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. At various times in salvation history they certainly had a foot in both worlds!
Of course, those are the great events in salvation history. What about the rest of us, and the small events of our lives? As if in answer to that question, we celebrate the feast of the Guardian Angels on Oct. 2. Each of us has a guardian angel, and that angel has one foot firmly rooted with God in heaven and one foot firmly rooted with us on earth.
Of course, those are angels! How can we, mere human beings, have a foot in both worlds? As if in answer to that question, we celebrate the feast of St. Jerome on Sept. 30. He was a great biblical scholar and is the patron saint of biblical scholars. He kept one foot firmly rooted in the world of ancient biblical Greek and Hebrew and another foot firmly rooted in the popular language of his time (which was then Latin). He spent an enormous amount of time and energy living in both worlds and translating from the one to the other.
Of course, he was a great scholar. What about the rest of us ordinary human beings? As if in answer to that question, we celebrate the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux on Oct. 1. Yes, she was a great saint! But remember where she started: a simple girl from a simple town, who went to a simple monastery where she pursued the “little way” of love. She lived with one foot in both worlds partly because it was a gift to her, and partly because the “little way” was a discipline with her.
All of that may seem pretty lofty. So, consider the simple truth captured in the words of St. John Henry Newman, the newest doctor of the Church: “God takes away our loved ones as hostages, that we may be compelled, even by our earthly affections, to lift up our hearts to Him.” His words may seem strange to us. But Newman is saying that anyone who has had a loved one die already lives, because of that love, with a foot in two worlds.
Jesus was the living embodiment of having a foot in two worlds. He was firmly planted here on earth and equally firmly rooted in His Father’s will in heaven. He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit precisely so that we could follow Him in this.
We know what it is to work steadily during the week, while still keeping our eyes on the weekend — one foot in both worlds. Can we do the same with our Christian life — live more deliberately with one foot on earth and one foot in heaven? This week’s feast days point to it as a gift we have been given and a discipline we can (and must!) learn to cultivate.
