Have you ever wanted to be a superhero? Believe it or not, Jesus wants you to be a superhero—both now and in the world to come. Sometimes we close our minds to the possibilities of the supernatural and of heaven. Many of us know the catechism definition of heaven that it is a place of worship. Yes, heaven is a place of worship. Perfect worship. That’s the essence of heaven. But heaven is so much more. Our experience of heaven and worship will be experienced as something similar to how a superhero experiences his superpowers. And we can experience elements of those superpowers today.
For instance, Jesus walked through walls and appeared in a room out of nowhere. He walked on water when he was still alive. St. Padre Pio was said to have done similarly strange things. He could bilocate (meaning he was in two places at the same time). And Padre Pio could read people’s souls (meaning he could know what was in their heart, even if they hid it from him). Teresa of Avila and several other saints were known to levitate in prayer. And St. Francis of Assisi attracted animals to himself wherever he went.
Why did this happen for them? Well, certainly it was God’s unique gift to them. But in part it was because they were so in touch with God’s love that God filled their whole body. Their bodies were living tabernacles of veritable worship. Like Mary their bodies became channels of divine grace. When we are so in tune with God, who is the source of light, love, power, and goodness, God’s power begins to become manifest inside our bodies. Normally, we experience this as prayer in worship. And occasionally, we might experience signs of God’s power working in us in extraordinary ways, as it did in the saints.
So, every time we engage our body and our whole being in worship—every time we orient our whole self to Him who is the source of life—we become connected with that power.
Let me be clear: I’m not proposing that we can access a “secret power” or a “secret knowledge.” That is an age-old heresy called Gnosticism. This is not a secret. It is simply prayer. St Therese of Lisieux wrote that by becoming like a child she could use the greatest “fulcrum” by which the saints have lifted up the world. This fulcrum, this lever, is prayer. It is like a little baby that asks her daddy to lift her up. Because the saints recognized that they could not do anything without God, they were able to do great things by leaning on the fulcrum of prayer. Prayer was their real superpower. God indeed did everything. They needed only to be small.
And we need only be small if we want to lift up the world. Before heaven, it might mean something simpler. It may simply mean praying for a family member or a dear friend, trusting that God wants to intervene in their life and that He will intervene. By connecting with God in prayer and in the mass through our bodies, we connect to that power that as St Therese of Lisieux says “lifts up the world.” Prayer makes us superheroes. And who knows—maybe through prayer God will work other wonders through us as well.
Gabriel Milano has his Master’s degree in Theology in Marriage and Family at the John Paul II Institute and is a content creator and speaker for TOBET. He also writes fantasy novels for children and young adults, under the pen name G. M. Dantes.
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