Contemporary postmodern culture is creating a world that increasingly resembles an ugly waiting room for Hell, according to religious art advocates who argue that authentic artistic expression has largely disappeared since World War I. However, through God's abundant grace and by developing the spiritual discipline of imagining Heaven, faithful individuals can work toward reviving meaningful art and culture in modern society.

The path to artistic revival lies in cultivating the ability to envision Heaven through various symbolic representations, each offering unique insights into divine reality. These heavenly images include choirs, courts, gardens, springs, fountains, cities, festivities, banquets, family meals, and processions. The symbolism of the Holy Mass particularly serves as a powerful representation of heavenly worship, providing believers with concrete ways to understand and imagine the divine realm.

When contemplating angels and saints experiencing the beatific vision of God, Heaven can be understood as a hierarchical choir singing in perpetual joy. This hierarchy, derived from the Greek word "hierarchia" meaning God's order in nature, functions not like a Masonic ladder with distinct degrees, but rather like a rainbow where higher layers interpenetrate lower ones, forming an uninterrupted continuum of divine harmony.

The monarchical aspect of God reveals Heaven as a royal court where angels and saints participate in His divine glory. Similarly, considering God's grace that provides abundant life to all creatures in both temporal and eternal existence, Heaven appears as a garden filled with trees bearing diverse fruits, as described in Genesis and Revelation, rather than producing just a single type of fruit.

In response to earthly injustice, Heaven becomes a stream or fountain from which divine justice flows freely. This honorable and immaculate court of God's justice completely satisfies humanity's deepest thirst for true righteousness. When contemplating God's infinity as "ever ancient, ever new," Heaven transforms into the Celestial Jerusalem, an ancient city unlike any other, with winding streets where each horizon brings fresh wonders and delights.

Christ's parables comparing the Kingdom of Heaven to those preparing for the King's feast in magnificent clothes allow believers to imagine heavenly joy as a grand banquet or celebration. The intimate love of God can be envisioned through the tender, warm atmosphere of a family meal or communal dining experience. The gradual and ceremonial nature of creation and liturgy presents Heaven as a colorful, solemn procession moving in perfect rhythm and order, particularly visible during Holy Mass.

These physical images serve as stepping stones for souls seeking to know God and His realities. By using tangible metaphors that remind believers of heaven, individuals can transcend earthly constraints and imagine the perfection of divine qualities in the Creator. This represents an honest and creative use of imagination that God desires His people to cultivate.

Modern society faces significant challenges in imagining Heaven due to a lack of appropriate vocabulary and expressions. Many people remain unfamiliar with artistic traditions that once flourished in depicting heavenly realities. Contemporary culture operates under what some describe as a "violent tyranny" that makes it easy to forget that all good originates from above and that the world follows divine, beautiful architecture.

Many readers may be unfamiliar with the great artistic movements of Christendom, including Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque, Classical, and Romantic forms. The two World Wars severely interrupted the cultural sweetness found in these artistic movements, replacing them with sterile and fragmented expressions. No new artistic movement of Christian inspiration has emerged to fill this void, leaving society broken without the means to unite minds and hearts necessary for reviving art through an integrated artistic movement.

Historical artistic movements within Christendom emerged specifically for imagining Heaven, and such expressions shaped culture and habits, making the world function as a waiting room for Heaven. A world shaped by heavenly imagination favors the sanctification of souls, with art serving as a means for souls to draw progressively closer to God.

Authentic artistic imagination requires suffering and cannot be achieved through mere effort. Beauty and art are impossible without pain and sorrow, which force minds and hearts to contemplate life's meaning and purpose. This suffering causes people to lament unexpressed beauty and redouble efforts to create new forms of beauty. The missing element in contemporary culture is sorrow for unrealized possibilities and untapped potential.

True heavenly imagination should not be confused with historical revivals, live-action role-playing (LARPing), or escapist fantasies of rural life. While traditions must be revived, LARPing and reality avoidance are ineffective approaches. Genuine artistic movements emerge from the suffering and sorrow inherent in fallen human nature as people live truly realistic, apostolic, and spiritually militant lives.

Authentic artistic movements arise from present reality rather than attempting to recreate the past or play catch-up with historical periods. Modern society lacks continuity with many traditional artistic movements, meaning future artistic expression cannot simply continue Romantic, Gothic, or Baroque traditions, as these cannot be authentically revived. New art can only emerge through struggling with contemporary challenges while maintaining both profound sorrow and genuine charity. From authentic community life that avoids escapism, meaningful artistic movements can develop.

All genuine goodness flows from prayer and the sanctification of human lives, relying entirely upon God and His grace. Through prayers and personal mortifications, believers must ask for the grace to imagine Heaven, envision the mystical body of Christ on Earth, and lament what could have been but never came to pass. Only through this spiritual foundation might authentic art be reborn in the modern world.