From perishable to imperishable

It’s a skill we all need to learn. Converting the perishable condition of our earthly life into the imperishable quality of our definitive life hopefully in heaven is actually expected, nay, commanded of us by Christ himself.

He said it very clearly. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, here your heart will be also.” (Mt 6,19-21)

The same idea is reiterated by St. Peter. “By his (God’s) great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you…” (1Pt 1,3-4)

St. Paul also said something similar. “Seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Col 3,1-2)

Heaven can start here on earth. In fact we need to see the unity between the two, and try our best, with God’s grace, to conform to such reality. Obviously, this unity between heaven and earth will always be a tentative one while we are still here on earth, but we need to work on it.

That’s the reason why in the Lord’s prayer, we are asked to constantly pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is heaven.” Many other passages in the gospel can attest to this. St. Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians said: “As we have borne the image of the earthly, let us bear also the image of the heavenly.” (15,49)

Converting the perishable to the imperishable can happen if we see and understand things in a theological way, that is, with faith, hope and charity. We need to realize that our thinking would not work in its most proper way if it is not enlightened and guided by faith, hope and charity.

It would be like saying that we can simply be on our own. It’s tantamount to saying that we don’t need God from whom we come and to whom we belong. Or that we may need him only from time to time, but not always, and that he is not truly indispensable in our life.

We have to cultivate this theological mind, which is actually necessary for us but which we have to do freely. Theological thinking is actually not an optional thing.

With this theological thinking, we would be able to see Christ in everything, as expressed once by St. Josemaria Escriva. “Understand this well,” he said. “There is something holy, something divine, hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each one of you to discover it.”

This finds basis on the fact that God is everywhere. He is our creator who gives us and the whole world our existence and keeps it. With Christ who is the Son of God who became man to redeem us, God identifies with each one of us.

The Catechism expresses this truth in this way: “Christ enables us to live in him all that he himself lived, and he lives it in us…the Son of God has in a certain way united himself with each man…” (CCC 521) Also with this theological thinking, we would be able to relate everything to God, as it should, regardless if in human terms it is good or bad.

As a creation of God, everything in the world can and should actually lead us to him. Nothing in it is non-relatable to God. Everything in it comes from him and belongs to him. There is no dead spot in it where God is absent or irrelevant. Our sciences, arts and technologies can only discover the laws and the ways of nature that have been created by God. We do not create these natural laws. We just discover them and make use of them.

As such, we have to at least thank God for whatever usefulness we can find in the things of the world. But more than that, we should try to discern how the things of this world play in the all-embracing providence of God over his creation, since we also have a role to play in that providence. God somehow makes us as his living and loving instruments in governing the world.

This is how we can turn the perishable to the imperishable!