If God is everywhere, how do some people say that God is in heaven, or in the Church?
God is indeed everywhere, but he has special modes and measures of presence. In heaven, his presence is manifested in everlasting glory to the angels and saints; in the divine services and Holy Mysteries, a special presence is devoutly recognized and experienced by believers. It is at times manifested by extraordinary signs, above all in the Holy Eucharist, where the Lord is present in his very Body and Blood.
As our Lord Jesus Christ says: “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mat 18:20; see Q151).
In the Old Testament, the Patriarch Jacob beheld in vision a stairway to heaven: “Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.’ And he was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!’” (Gen 28:16–17; see Q542). The Church sees in Jacob’s ladder a type of the Theotokos and of the temple: the meeting place of heaven and earth.
