Rapturous, blissful, intoxicating love

The perfect union in heaven of our hearts with the heart of Jesus is a mystery which we believe here below, but cannot understand. The kingdom of Christ, which on earth embraces all who suffer and strive for His cause, will not cease in heaven; there, however, combat will give place to the victor’s crown, and the Church militant will become the Church triumphant. King of the kingdom of the blessed is Christ. His heart is the heart of the Church triumphant. His heart and the hearts of His followers will be but one heart. Of course, each of the blessed will have his own body and his own physical heart; he will also have his own soul endowed with intelligence and free will. But all beatific knowledge and all beatific love will have its source and origin in Christ, just as all grace which we pilgrims receive here below is vital energy from the vine which is Christ. Even in heaven the blessed are not merely individuals existing for themselves alone, but constitute there, even as here, the mystical body of Christ, with this difference, however, that in heaven the union of all with each other and with Christ is absolutely perfect. The sentiments of Christ are the sentiments of each individual, nor does the least obstacle mar such conformity. These sentiments are the purest, most ardent love of God, not a love of sacrifice nor of suffering for there is nothing to be sacrificed or suffered, but only rapturous, blissful, intoxicating love of God. All the flames of this love have their origin in the heart of Jesus, and in union with the love of the heart of Jesus they constitute the worship of heaven that endures without ceasing from day to day, from hour to hour. How long will this union of hearts with the heart of Jesus endure? Forever!

~ Christian Pesch, S.J., Our Best Friend [Unser bester Freund: Erwägungen für den Herz-Jesu-Monat] translated from the German by Bernard A. Hausmann, S.J. (Milwaukee, The Bruce Publishing Company, 1953), pp. 219-220.