What Is Heaven On Earth?

16 September 2026  1 Corinthians 13:1-13

“…[A]s for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.”  (1 Corinthians 13:8) 

There is no Church in heaven.

You don’t have to take my word for it – take St. John’s: “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty, and the Lamb” (Revelation 21:22). In fact, there are a lot of things that are of extravagant importance in this world that have no place in heaven.

For instance, there will be no prophecy in heaven. Why would it be necessary? Prophets speak for God, and point to things that are to come. But heaven is what is to come, and God will surely speak for Himself there.

Love, however, is infinite, so when we love God with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength, when we love our neighbor as ourselves, we are breathing the atmosphere of heaven and receiving the nourishment of the wedding feast of the Lamb.

Similarly, there will be no teaching in heaven. Who needs teachers when we are face to face with Jesus Himself? There won’t be any Bible either. If you’re face to face with Jesus, what would we need a Bible for? There won’t be “speaking in tongues” in heaven. Speaking in tongues refers to the language of angels in heaven, a remarkable thing on earth, but of surpassing ordinariness in heaven. There will be no “speaking in tongues,” but just speech. There will be no marriage in heaven. Those whom God has joined together may still be together, but no one goes to heaven to find a husband or wife. Getting married is a provision for this life, not the life to come. Most significantly, perhaps, there is no Mass in heaven. The teaching of the Church has always been that the Eucharist is a hint, an anticipation of the great heavenly banquet that awaits us all in the next life (cf. Revelation 19, the Wedding Feast of the Lamb). There are no hints in heaven – there is just the real thing.

St. Paul refers to all of these things – prophecy, teaching, knowledge, Bible, the Mass – as the speech of children: “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man I gave up childish ways” (1 Corinthians 13:11). In heaven, we grow out of them all. They are needful certainly for this life, just like training wheels and ABCs are for kids; but they are not part of the hereafter.

There is, however, one thing in this life that certainly is in heaven, and that we can experience right now.  That is love. Love, therefore, wherever it arises, however we experience it, is the clearest sign of what heaven is like.

That is one of the reasons why the Bible’s teaching about love is so particular. Latin and Greek both have four different words for “love.” Even pagans seemed to be aware that one word simply didn’t cover it. For that matter, four words don’t cover it either, but that’s just the way it is with something that St. Paul says “never ends” (1 Corinthians 13:8). It is not possible to run out of word to describe it. Earthly knowledge is finite – even if we haven’t done it yet, it is possible to describe everything on earth. Earthly prophecy is finite, too – there is only so much we can say about heaven when we are on this side of it (cf.1 Corinthiaans 13:8-9). Love, however, is infinite, so when we love God with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength, when we love our neighbor as ourselves, we are breathing the atmosphere of heaven and receiving the nourishment of the wedding feast of the Lamb. It is why the Bible calls this teaching the greatest commandment of all (cf. Matthew 22:37-39), and Paul calls it a “still more excellent way” (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:31).

There is such a thing as actual “heaven on earth.”  That’s what love is.