"On you I depend from birth, from my mother’s womb you are my strength"

Psalm 71:6

There is a Norwegian legend that God kisses the soul before it is united to the baby when it is conceived in its mother's womb. After it is kissed and throughout its life, the baby will deeply remember that kiss of God. We are created from love and for love. Love is the constant calling in our lives. It is our fulfillment in heaven.

We are contingent beings. Consider something like a heart attack or aneurism. We can be going along and thinking all is OK and then lose our life just like that. Our physical lives depend upon the health of our bodies. We will be alive as long as our bodies are healthily functioning but when a blood vessel breaks or clogs that can mean a sudden end to them. The time we spend using our bodies on earth is contingent on our health. And, in the grand scheme of things, our physical lives will end in a few ticks of the clock.

Just as we are contingent on something else for our time on earth, we are contingent on SOMEONE else for eternity. I often reflect on the fact that I did not put myself into being. It was God who kissed my soul and knit me in my mother's womb. It is God who is constantly calling me to live in the glory of his faultless love. I remember the kiss and I know I am totally dependent on God to show me what that kiss is all about.

Contingency means that is something else is not, then I am not. So, if I do not have physical health, then my body will die. If I do not have Christ, how will I have the strength for eternity?

We are contingent beings who totally depend on Christ to have eternal life. We live in a radically independent world that says I can get there on my own. How many times has that ever happened in the history of the world? Correct- none!

How dependent are you on Christ? We know eternal life is an infinite mystery. Say we know nothing about it (which is where I surely started and I know I am still beginning) but there is a teacher who has given us free-will to have twenty-four hour, instant access to teach us about it. And this teacher is the only one who can teach me about it. What will I do to listen to all he has to say?

Remember God's kiss and depend on him to teach you just what it all means.

+Fr. John

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