It is Paradise
Regained by man's climbing the mountain of Purgatory, and its
significance is understood if we remember that Dante would teach us
that the present life can be made dual, a life worth while in itself,
full of service and godliness as well as a preparation for the unending
life of Heaven.
For Dante there must be, also, the Celestial Paradise where man's
supernatural destiny will be realized in joys which the eye has not seen
and in music which the ear has not heard. His Paradiso has been called
the Ten Heavens, but in reality there is in his plan only one Heaven,
the Empyrean, the abode of the angels, of the blessed spirits and of
God. It is high above the planets and the stars, beyond time and space.
The Church has never answered the question: Where is Heaven?
Theologians, however, have put forth various opinions. "Some say,"
writes Father Honthein, that "Heaven is everywhere, as God is
everywhere, the blessed being free to move freely in every part of the
universe while still remaining with God and seeing Him everywhere."
Others hold that Heaven is "a special place with definite limits.
Naturally this place is held to exist, not within the earth, but in
accordance with the expressions of Scripture, 'without and beyond its
limits.
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