Il disegno divino sull'uomo e la nostalgia cristiana del paradiso

The article begins by taking up God's eternal plan of adopting the human beings as children and heirs of his eternal beatitude. The realization of this plan is initiated by God with man's sanctification on earth and will be achieved when the saints, who willingly on earth welcomed Jesus Christas their Saviour and Lord, will be glorified in heaven. Christians are called to cultivate their participation of the divine nature and activity by sanctifying grace and the theological virtues received through the Holy Spirit sent to them by Jesus Christ, and so to yearn for their future sharing the divine beatitude in heaven. Such Christian yearning is essentially constituted by the activity of the theological virtues and can be conveniently called "nostalgia for heaven" both in a metaphorical, poetical sense and in an analogical, conceptual one.