Two Deep

My deep thought for a Tuesday morning: What if everything is here, now?

Heaven, Hell, God, angels, demons, saints, loved ones, a battlefield, shouts of victory, the seemingly "dead" who have left us grieving, the answers to the questions of every human heart, the hidden meaning of suffering, the reason for it all?

What if it were simply a thin veil that separated you and me from all of That?

How would you live, walk, breathe in the air of today if you could see It? If you could pierce that veil with your eyes, see the Shapes of the Answers moving about in a Great Dance that made everything here in this Room so much clearer, brighter, even joyful, like the giddy surge of the heart on Christmas morning when you were seven years old and the whole universe seemed like a Big Present just for you.

What if it still is, just for you?

"At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known."
- 1 Corinthians 13:13

I've heard faith called wishful thinking, theology just pie in the sky intellectualizing. Belief an opiate for the people. But to me this seems to come from a one-eyed view of the world, one that limits our "depth-perception" and ultimately leaves the heart dry and thirsty.

"To me the meanest flower that blows can give thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears."
- William Wordsworth

Why?

C.S. Lewis said the best explanation for the feelings that you feel and the cravings of your heart that can find no completion or absolute fulfillment in this world is.... you are made for Another World. This sentence rings truer than anything for me, in all my years of longing, through all my years of study, through the experiences I've had or borne through the lives of others near and far in this messed up human family. This one truth rings clear as silver. There is More.

"I want eternity. I was made for greater things."
- St. Stanislaus Kostka

This word was spoken by a young Polish nobleman who had all that money could buy, and yet was not satisfied. He gave it all up for a faith in the Unseen, and he was fulfilled, like countless others. And he was given a view of that Unseen Love finally. Love took on a human face and the veil was lifted.

So I think we should live today as if the veil were pulled back. As if all that is "seen and unseen" is visible and woven into one great tapestry. May we see Love behind every atom, eye, and blade of grass, every word, whisper and walk of life. It's preparation.... it's Heaven all the way to Heaven, as St. Catherine said. It's the Practice of the Presence of God... and

"The best is yet to come."
- Van Morrison