243rd Meditation
“I am your future” (Inner Word).
How much we would sometimes like to have a glimpse into our future! Not a few people are tempted to try in various ways and end up in questionable practices.
In God, on the other hand, it is not difficult to see the future, because He Himself is our future. This is enough, because it says it all.
If day by day we come to know and understand our Heavenly Father better, we can glimpse more and more of our future. If we remain faithful to the way of faith, our future will consist in the unfolding of all the grace that God has given us. What else could our future be but to behold the Lord in all His glory and to be united with Him?
Day by day we envisage this future and move towards its fullness. All the events on our life’s journey are known to the Father and will serve to increase our love. They need not trouble us. Rather, with God’s grace, we are to give the right response to each situation we face, so that our life becomes ever more fruitful.
We cannot foresee external things. As St. Francis de Sales says: “My future does not yet concern me; it belongs to divine providence”. It is therefore in good hands and should not worry us.
What remains forever is God himself. He not only knows our future, but He is our future, just as Jesus not only claims that He knows the truth, but that He is the Truth (Jn 14:6).
The Father Himself is our future! Sometimes we can experience this in contemplation… When a holy silence enters our soul, enveloping her completely, she no longer wants to know anything else: neither what was before, nor what is now, nor what will be later. She is simply there, united to her Lord. This is how she would like to remain forever. The glorious future that awaits her has already gained more ground in the soul, and a sigh of eternity has touched her.
She knows then that her future is God Himself, and so, comforted and strengthened, she continues on her way to fulfil the mission entrusted to her. At the same time, a certain pain of love remains in her, because she would like to live soon the fullness of her future and longs to contemplate her Father in heaven face to face.