Sophia Institute Pressed just published a new book, Christmas in Heaven, written by Anthony DeStefano. This book is great on so many levels.
First, it’s written in story form, which is the most appealing way to read for most folks.
Second, taking time to view something we do on earth from a heavenly perspective can enhance our earthly experience.
Third, even though this is a children’s book, it has fresh Catholic content that adults will enjoy.
Fourth, although heaven will be greater than any image we can think of on earth, the pictures are drawn well to help with visualizing a foretaste of what heaven could be like. Spoiler alert, the first drawing of heaven in the book has 3 of my favorite things: an ocean, green hills and trees, and a majestic kingdom!
Not to spoil the whole book, I’ll go over just some of the Saints in the book.
- Saint Gabriel: There’s a picture of St. Gabriel as an angel blowing his horn in sweet adoration. It reminds us that angels chose to adore and serve God rather than serve themselves. For those of us in Catholic Churches without horn players, it’s great to think about heaven celebrating Christmas with horns playing!
- Saint Martha: It’s great to see St. Martha here for a couple reasons. One is that we tend to view her in not the best light when Jesus said Mary did the better part! But St. Martha is a saint too though! Second, in the book, St. Martha is cleaning, sweeping, and doing chores as she is known to do that from the Biblical reading. It’s interesting to think about chores in heaven. It reminds us that chores on earth don’t have to be thought of as suffering since there’s no suffering in heaven. Therefore, chores can be done joyfully. Easier said than done I’m sure.
- Saint Anthony: He helps out St. Nicholas with toys under a Christmas tree. When St. Nicholas can’t find a certain present, St. Anthony, known for helping people find lost things, comes to the rescue!
- Saint Thomas Aquinas: While all the previous saints are doing the following to prepare for Christmas, St. Thomas is reading a book! As a third order Dominican, this speaks to my reading heart. I would choose this option on earth preparing for Christmas over the other options!
- Saint Lawrence: He’s preparing for the big Christmas celebration by turning a roast on a fire. If you don’t get the funny significance of this, please read up on this life! Cliff notes, go to the end of his life in how he died.
- Saint Matthew: It’s a funny, fresh idea to light 2,000 candles since it’s been that many years since the first Christmas! In the book, St. Matthew is lighting that many candles. And he’s the perfect saint to do that since it’s good with numbers. Get it? He was a tax collector.
- Saint Francis of Assisi: He walks into the Kingdom with all these animals with him. St. Martha, see above, sweeps after the tracks of the animals. It’s great to see different saints helping each other out!
May we unite the Church on earth with the Church in heaven in worshiping our Precious Lord this Christmas season.