Nostalgia and expectation

WE need to have a good and healthy sense of nostalgia and

expectation in our life here on earth. We cannot deny that we have our

past and our future, and thus we cannot avoid having to refer

ourselves to these points of reference.

            Of course, in our life here on earth, there will always be

some drama involved, some lights and shadows, joys and sorrows,

successes and failures. But there is something in us that, in spite of

the ups and downs of our earthly journey, would give us joy and peace

always.

            And that is to remember always that we come from God, we

come from heaven, and that we are meant to be with God in heaven for

all eternity. We need to see the bigger picture of our life, learning

to see beyond the here and now, beyond the various conditionings we

are subjected to now, beyond the limits of time and space. This is

where our sense of nostalgia and expectation should be grounded.

            Our life here on earth is just a test, to see if what God

wants of us is also what we want for ourselves. And the test is in the

way we handle our earthly conditions. For this, God has already given

us the means and the power, but it is up to us to take them up or not.

            To be sure, God has given us his very own Son, Jesus

Christ, who is made alive in us through the Holy Spirit, and

actualized through the many means and instrumentalities made available

in the Church. We have no reason to be afraid, nor to worry, nor to

think that our life is just one aimless venture that can be engaged

just in any way we want.

            Let’s remember that we are not purely material beings. We

have a spiritual soul that is capable of transcendence and of being

elevated to the supernatural order of God. That’s simply because God

made us so. He created us in his image and likeness. That is why he

did not only give us intelligence and will, the capacity to know and

to love, but also his grace that enables us to share in his very own

life.

  

            It’s important that the awareness of heaven as our

beginning and end is always vivid in us. We should do all to make that

so, since that would be a genuine guide for as we go through the

twists and turns of our earthly life.

            One way to do that is to remind ourselves right at the

beginning of the day, as we wake up, that we come from God, that we

come from heaven. That’s why one of the first things we do during the

day is to thank God for the sleep and to start planning out the day,

making some kind of itinerary that would lead us back to God in heaven

at the end of the day.

            It’s also helpful that from time to time, we try to

imagine how heaven would be like. We know that it is so indescribable

that we are told that “no eyes have seen, nor ears heard, neither has

it entered into the man’s heart, the things which God has prepared for

them who love him.” (1 Cor 2,9) But that does not prevent us from

trying to imagine it.

            We can also repeat as some kind of aspiration that should

spring from our heart, Psalm 27,8, says “Lord, I wish to see your

face.” And everytime we see a baby, we should remind ourselves that

this baby did not simply come from his parents, but from God. The same

when we see a dying old person. We should think that he is going back

to God in heaven for all eternity.

            This is what a healthy sense of nostalgia and expectation

should be. It’s a kind of homesickness that is based on our Christian

faith!