Question and Answer on Heaven

186. Who are rewarded in heaven?

Those are rewarded in heaven who have died in the state of grace and have been purified in purgatory, if necessary, from all venial sin and all debt of temporal punishment; they see God face to face and share forever in His glory and happiness.

(a) The happiness of heaven consists in the beatific vision ant! the consequent joy of the blessed. This happiness is not postponed to the end of the world but begins as soon as all venial sin and the temporal punishment for sin have been remitted.

(b) The body participates in this happiness only after the resurrection at the end of the world.

(c) The blessed rejoice in the company of Our Saviour, the Blessed Virgin Mary, all the angels and saints, and the friends they knew on earth who have attained the reward of eternal life.

(d) There is no sorrow or pain in heaven; the joy is complete, though unequal, throughout an eternity.

The Baltimore Catechism, no. 3, Lesson 14