But there is still something that we must look for in the city of our God: namely, a temple for praising God, and food and drink for eating and drinking; for about clothing there is no reason for us to be anxious. For if Adam and Eve in the earthly paradise had no need of clothing, much less will the blessed need it in the heavenly paradise, where they will all be clothed with light as with a garment. But food and drink not only could Adam and Eve not do without; even the Angels themselves do not lack them, as the Angel Raphael says: I use invisible food and drink, which cannot be seen by men (Tob. 12:19). Now as to the temple, St. John says in the Apocalypse: And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty is the temple thereof, and the Lamb (Rev. 21:22). That John saw no temple in the heavenly city may perhaps seem strange.
For temples are erected in the Church militant for four ends: that in them the word of God may be preached to the faithful, that the Sacraments and sacrifices may be celebrated, that public prayer may be offered to God, and that due praises may be rendered with song and gladness. Preaching will cease in heaven, where the uncreated Word Himself will speak openly to all, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah: No longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each man his brother, saying: Know the Lord; for all shall know me, from the least of them even to the greatest (Jer. 31:34). Sacraments and sacrifices will not be necessary there either, where no sins will have to be expiated; nor will signs be required, where the things signified will lie plainly open to view. Prayer and the praises of God are offered here on earth in temples consecrated to God, since He Himself promised that His eyes would be open and His ears attentive in the temple; for thus He spoke to Solomon in the second book of Paralipomenon: My eyes shall be open, and my ears attentive to the prayer of him who shall pray in this place (2 Chr. 7:15). But since in the heavenly city God is openly seen and heard by all, a temple surely does not seem necessary in that place. Hence we easily understand what St. John says: And I saw no temple therein. Why then did he add: For the Lord God Almighty is the temple thereof, and the Lamb? If no temple is required in that city, why is God Himself said to be the temple of that city — and not God alone, but also the Lamb? Or who will explain to us how God and the Lamb are called temples in heaven, and what use that temple has in heaven? It is the custom of the holy Scriptures that one passage explains another, and that an obscure place is understood from a clearer one. It is said in the ninetieth Psalm: He who dwells in the aid of the Most High shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven (Ps. 90:1); the meaning of which words is this: he who is joined to God with a sure confidence makes for himself, as it were, a house in God, in which he may dwell secure and be protected from every evil. The same can be said of praise and prayer: for he who is joined to God with intimate reverence makes for himself, as it were, a house in God, so that dwelling in it he may pray and praise God as he ought. In heaven, therefore, the Lord God Almighty is the temple of the holy city, because those blessed citizens, thinking most attentively on the omnipotence of God and thus joined to Him in intimate reverence, dwell in Him and offer Him worthy praises; and when they pray for us, they are most readily heard. So also when they think attentively on the merits of Christ, who like an innocent lamb delivered Himself up as an oblation and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor, they are intimately united to Him through love; and dwelling in Him as in a temple, they pour out prayers for us and without doubt find the eyes of God open and His ears attentive, so that whatever they ask for us they obtain.
But if those blessed citizens in heaven are wont to dwell in God and in Christ as in a temple, in order to sing God's praises and to pour out prayers for us, what ought we to do, who see neither God nor Christ? O would that it might be granted us — by what would surely be a great gift of God — that we might so draw near to God to praise and pray that, first being joined to God through true humility and deepest reverence arising from the consideration of His most high majesty, we might dwell in God Himself as in a most holy and sacred temple! For thus it would come to pass that we would offer praises and prayers not drowsily or while thinking of other things, but most attentively and most devoutly we would offer to God pleasing praises, and to the Lord prayers profitable to ourselves and to our brethren; and that word would be fulfilled: The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me; and there is the way by which I will show him the salvation of God. For the divine praises, offered as a holocaust upon the altar of the heart through the fire of charity, ascend in a fragrance of wondrous sweetness; and they obtain for us and for ours that a way be opened to us, through the enlightening of the heart, to behold the true salvation which God has prepared for those who love Him. All these benefits those wretched men lose who discharge the divine praises and prayers with wandering of mind and willful dryness of heart; they share the labor of praying and singing psalms with the others who pray and sing, but in the divine consolation and the foretaste of heavenly beatitude they have no share at all.