Time and eternity

n In the Gospels Jesus promises "eternal life" to those who put faith in him. What is eternal life? What is eternity? Theologians distinguish two kinds of eternity. The eternity of God means existence with no beginning and no end. That idea is difficult for us to grasp because, living in time, everything we experience has both a beginning and an end: flowers, animals, human beings, even the stars and the heavenly bodies. Eternity in that sense belongs to God alone, for he is by definition absolute existence who always was, is and always will be.

When the idea of eternity is applied to the angels and the saints in heaven, it is a limited concept in the sense that they all had a beginning but will have no end. They came into being by the almighty creative power of God, but their spirit has no intrinsic principle of corruption, as we find in material bodies, so they continue on in existence forever.

It is very difficult and perhaps impossible for us to understand the full meaning of "eternity" and "forever and ever." The reason is that, for us, the concept does not have positive content; it is a negation. Eternal life for a human being means that he will live forever, that his life will never end. This is something we all desire deep down in our hearts, whether we explicitly advert to it or not.

All of our experiences have a beginning and an end. We live by hours, days, weeks, months and years-they all have a beginning and an end. We are all born on a definite day, say November 12, 1929, and we all die on a certain day that we do not know in advance. So when we leave this life and enter into "eternity" or the realm of God and the angels, we enter into a way of life that is totally unknown to us now. We do not know what the saints see, think and do; we do not know how they communicate with each other; we do not know how they move around; we do not know what the "Beatific Vision" means and how it affects the blessed in heaven. On all of these subjects we are totally ignorant. God knows but he has not seen fit to reveal it to us. I suspect that the reality is so powerful and overwhelming that we would either not understand what he is saying or would not be able to bear it. As the great St. Paul puts it, "Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it entered into the mind of man to understand the things that God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Cor. 2:9).

I often wonder about the present state of my many relatives and friends who have died and gone to God. Are they all in heaven? I hope so. Are some in purgatory? It is probable that some are, so I pray for them and remember them at Mass each day. In return, I hope that my friends will remember me when I die. Are some in hell? With all my heart I hope not. Those who are certainly in heaven are the Canonized Saints and the Blesseds. We have the assurance of the infallible Church on that score. But such certainty reaches only an infinitesimally small number of the persons who have died since the time of Adam and Eve.

When I was young I did not think much about death. Now I think about it every day, not so much with dread as with intense curiosity about what it will be like and with the certainty that it will happen to me in the near future. Once one passes the age of 40 most of his life is behind him. I think my concern about my own death began in my forties, about 20 years ago since I am now 67. If man's life on the average is "threescore and ten," then I have only about three years of life left. I find this thought a strong motivation to live each day in accordance with God's law, to keep my vows, to try, as St. Paul urges us, to pray always, and to practice love of God and neighbor. My purpose in writing this is not to scare you, but to urge you to realize that your life here will end sooner or later, and your life with God and his angels and saints will be unending, eternal. Time is given us now to prepare for eternity.

Kenneth Baker, S.J., Editor