Isaiah 6:3 "And one called to another and said 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.'"

Last Wednesday, the first reading at Mass was from Revelation and in it John saw "the four living creatures" who day and night do not stop exclaiming "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come." (Revelation 4:8). The priest at Mass mentioned this in his homily, saying that an eternity spent exclaiming "Holy, holy, holy" might not seem like the heaven that we have in mind, but we are not ready to understand this yet.

It is amazing how similar Isaiah and John's visions are, they are obviously describing the same truth, but I do tend to have the problem of not picturing this to be eternal happiness. Then I think, though, of the few times that I have felt God's presence very strongly, and the absolute ecstasy that filled me in those moments. I have fallen to my knees, wanting nothing more than to praise and thank Him. I could happily have stayed in those moments forever, if my human body could withstand it and reality would allow it (neither of which is possible, since my heart was beating out of control and there was no way I could, nor wanted to, think of anything but God).

Those moments were just a taste, a mere veiled glimpse of the ecstasy of being in God's presence. I think that is what these passages are getting at: the state of eternal, timeless, ecstasy with God in which our very beings, body and soul, are fully conformed to His plan for us, so that we are capable of remaining there for all time, and incapable of doing anything but praising Him for all eternity. We will not want to do anything but this, it will never get old!