Contemplation

     Three virtues are given to us by God so that we always know who we are. Faith is the gift that makes us family. Love is sharing in and knowing God's own nature. Hope is the one that caught my notice today. Hope is about our destiney, for one thing. I expect it has many more dimensions. Hope is our destiney.
     We are meant to live forever with Christ. What that will be like we can sample here on this earth, in this life. We will belong to him. That's what faith teaches. We will share his nature. That's what love teaches. But hope teaches us that our tomorrows will never end. We will no longer count the passing days, but we will live them, with him.
     Sometimes I think we need to step away from the "eternal alleluias" image of heaven and contemplate how personal it will be. When we go to him at Mass, and receive him in the Eucharist, when we hold him in our hearts and minds, bodies and souls, when we see in that Communion our union with all people, all creation, all time and all eternity--that's a taste of what heaven really is, not someday, but here and now.
     The kingdom of heaven is close at hand, yes, right here in our own hearts. We can go in and know...