What is it that is the distinguishing mark of
obedience of the angels and saints in Heaven? It
is that they do the will of God, not for any reward,
but simply and solely because it is God's will. In
the joy of the Beatific Vision their will is so perfectly
united to God's, that the mere fact of doing
the will of God is for them perfect happiness. This
is what we have to try to imitate. Our life will
become a sort of Heaven on earth, when our greatest
enjoyment consists in doing God's work without
the thought of any earthly reward, save the
consciousness that we are carrying out His will.
The blessed in Heaven also find their delight
in witnessing the accomplishment of God's purposes.
They never regret anything that happens,
but they regard every event as something in which
they can find satisfaction, simply because God has
so ordained it. We on earth often find it hard to
acquiesce in God's arrangements. We wish God had
willed otherwise. If we are to be like the angels
and saints in Heaven, we must look at the bright
side of everything, and must never regret anything
that God has ordained for ourselves or others.
The blessed in Heaven enjoy the most perfect
liberty. Hence there can be no true liberty
in the power to commit sin, and in running counter
to God's holy will. The liberty to sin is a sort
of bondage. When every sin becomes practicably
impossible to us, then we shall enjoy true freedom,
and shall be like to the saints in Heaven. Then,
we shall be like to God Himself, and shall be fit
to see Him as He is.