The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-03-01
CHILDREN OF COD,
HEIRS or HEAVEN
Sermon Delivered by Right Rev.
Bishop John B. Brondel at
the Helena Cathedral.

Al the cathedral of the Sacred
Heart. Helena, last Sunday evening.
Right Rev. Bishop John s. Brondel
delivered the second in series of Len
,sn discourses. There was d large con-
arogation, and the bishop spoke on
Heaven and the Angels" taking for
his text. Matthew, XIV, 3: Come We,
blessed Of my father, possess you the
Kingdom of heaven prepared for You
nom the foundation of the world" in
his discourse, Bishop Brondel said in
part.
Last Sunday, beloved brethren you
anne TO listen 10 the teachings of
holy mother church concerning the
--Inishments of the wicked, that, hav-
Ing the fear of the Lord in your hearts
Won may obtain the beginning of wis
dom and keep away from evil doing.
Today we rejoice i'll speaking to the
children of God, who are heirs of heav-
.u concerning the everlasting happy
homes of our heavenly father. that we
may persevere in doing good. We were
made for heaven. God created us to
his image and likeness When through
the sin of our first father. Adam, we
lost heaven, the son of God became
"a man and died on the cross, reopen
.ended into heaven. That we might
have heaven in our mind and in our
heart God the son sent the divine spirit
to abide with US forever. The church
he established on earth is guided in
faIlibly by his spirit of truth, who
sanctifies. by the sacraments he instl-
tuted the hearts of all men of good
viii In this manner he gives peace
10 the heart and enlightens the mind
with truth, giving us heaven on earth.
MAN ONLY MADE FOR HEAVEN.
Man is the only creature on earth
made for heaven. There are three
heavens st. Paul speaks of, when he
says that he was taken up to the third
heaven. The first is the aerial space
which surrounds the earth, in which
space the clouds move. The second is
the stellar space occupied by the sun,
the moon and the stars. The third is
the home of the blessed. which sur
passes all created things. where stands
the throne of God surrounded by his
angels and his saints. This is the
home Of Cod where we will see him
face TO face. in the kingdom of ever
lasting JOY. prepared for us by the al
mighty. from the foundatio of the
world. 1t is to dwell in that heaven we
were made. and our very build, carry
ing our head erect and viewing the
celestial regions all the time, reminds
us of our vocation.
The first thing mentioned in the
scriptures as created by the almighty,
is heaven. There in the beginning he
created angels. that is 10 say. spirits,
made to minister unto him. These were
made for everlasting happiness but
they had their time of trial so as to
.1e--7-v-a +,a+ ,ayt-or.J Some foil fI,ror1ob
pride. under their leader. Lucifer.
They wished to place themselves above
God and were driven from heaven
by the faithful angels under the leader,
Michael into the hell created then by
cod TO punish the fallen angels and
their adherents. Let us hear what Sc.
Paul has to say Of the heaven of the
blessed: Cor let.~ 4 know q man ia
Christ about fourteen years agv
whether i'm the body / know not, or
whether out OF the BODY / know not.
cod knoweth). such one caught up
TO the third heaven. And ! know such
a man whether in the body or out of
the body I know not, God knoweth),
that he was caught up into paradise;
and heard secret words, which it is not
allowed for man to utter. and again
the same apostle says, in the same
letter: Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard. nor hath it entered into the
heart of man. what God has prepared
Tor those who love him.
What is glory, paradise. blessed
ness Theologians teach it to be a per-
feet state or condition of being, in
which every good thing is to be found;
in other words, it is an eternal state
or being, secure against loss, mmuta-
bic that cannot change and free of all
evils, Of guilt or pain, but full of ev-
cry good of nature and grace which
can be desired. Thence says st. Angus
tine: He is blessed who has all he
wants. and desires no evil
The blessedness is eternal, without
end, as long as God will be. of whose
kingdom there shall be nc end.
The blessedness is secure. because
the saints know that they cannot any
more become guilty of sin, whereby
tLey would lose their reward sHey
know also, that the decree of COG
giving them heaven, shall never be
changed.
The blessedness is immuta bic. for
tie essential glory shall never be
changed nor diminished. the saints
shall rather have frequently an in
crease of accidental glory.
The blessednesS shall never bring
forth fatigue or tiresomeness, for it
viii be even as new as enjoyed on the
first day
BEAUTY OF HEAVEN.
THE excellence and beauty of the
olnUyreal heaven and the superior
WORLD which God created as a dwell
rC place for his elect, is altogether
lee ol the evils and defects of this
inferior world, which is called a vale
1i tears. because il is filled with in
Vulnerable things which cause us 10
Weep. But heaven is free of tears,
TOT God will wipe away every tear
irom the eyes Of the blessed. nor will
here be in heaven any occasion for
weeping. At the same time there viii
nc an the visible good things of this
world increased and without imper-
- ton St John in the apocalypse or
book Of revelations c. y Y. is, says:
And the building of the wall of the
CELESTIAL Jerusalem was Of iaspar stone
out the city itself pure gold. like to
lear glass. And the foundations of the
wall Of the city were adorned with all
manner % precious stones. And the
y gates are y pearls. one to each.
and every several gate was of one
several pearl and the street Of the
ejtv was pure gold, as it were trans
Parent glass.
JEWELLERS IN PARADISE
The variety of the celestial citizens
will increase our joys. For there we
shall be with the three bierarchies and
shall be with the three hierarchies and
cipalities and virtues. the powers. dom
nations, and thrones the cherubs. and