One of the things that became abundantly clear to me as we celebrated Pascha, was that the call to holiness is the call to live life in a certain manner right now. The call is not to a life after death but to life here and now. Jesus modeled a way of living that changes life here on earth. He truly stressed, I believe, that how we live is what is most important. It is important to live as people who actually believe that we share life with God Himself. This sharing in God’s life calls us to live in a manner which clearly demonstrates that we have been created in His image and likeness. Jesus truly lived in a manner which reflected God’s likeness.

All of human beings have a built-in hunger and passion to possess more of life, more of being through a life of love for God, the Absolute Beauty, and for all human beings. We frenetically seek the Fountain of Youth which will conquer all death and corruption. We seek elixirs that will give us more vitality which is always connected with possessing more of life.

St. John has given us his view of reality, but it is seen from the perspective of Jesus Christ, the glorified God-Man. In this view God communicates His uncreated energies of love to us through His Word, the Logos. He speaks to us through the Logos and in the Speech we have our being. The abyss between God and nothingness is spanned through the Logos. We find our whole reason for being, in and through God’s Word.

When we reflect upon the life of Jesus, we see that He lived not for the world to come but was focused on His present world and helping others to find the meaning and purpose of life.

When we live in the present moment we encounter God because that is the only place where God is for us. He is neither in the past nor in the future because they do not exist in reality.       What do you make of this?