Already But Not Yet

I do not see the wind but I know it exists when it caresses my cheeks as a gentle breeze. I believe in the sun even when it does not shine because I know life happens because of the light and energy it radiates. I can see the stars only in the darkness of the night and I know they are there in the daytime even if they seem to have disappeared from view. There is more to life than can be perceived by my senses and often these are the more substantial things.

When Christ went through His passion, death and resurrection, He did not take away pain, suffering and death. Rather, He showed us a way to conquer them. He showed us that death and suffering do not and cannot destroy life. And so in my life, pain and suffering remain. Death will inevitably come. But Christ has shown me the way to deal with them.

We live in the already-but-not-yet. Christ has given us a glimpse of what is in store for us in the Resurrection. But the ultimate and total fulfillment of His promise does not come until the end, either of each on of us individually or of the entire universe. In the meantime, we have to deal with and live through the tension between the already and the not yet. This tension brings about all the anxiety I go through. From the petty worries over the small stuff to the cosmic angst about the ultimate meaning and purpose of my life through the daily struggle of trying to do the right things by the people I love and who are important to me.

I take these tensions and let them pull the strings of my life until they are taut. And as the strings become ever tighter, I listen in the silence until they start vibrating in sympathetic resonance to the Divine melody that the universe is singing. And listening to the hymn of the universe, I hope to encounter my God in the silence.

The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
~ Psalm 93

Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“‘You must be born from above.’
The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes,
but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes;
so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus answered and said to him,
‘How can this happen?”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this?
Amen, amen, I say to you,
we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen,
but you people do not accept our testimony.
If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe,
how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
No one has gone up to heaven
except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
John 3:7-15