Scripture Notes: Eye Has Not Seen (1 Corinthians 2)

We are called to wisdom, to a God’s-eye perspective on the world and on ourselves, on things of this earth and on things of Heaven, on things human and on things divine. St. Paul tells us so in 1 Corinthians 2:6-7 when he says that “among the mature” Christians, those who seek God with open hearts and strive to follow His will in faith, hope, and love, “we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification.”

The Spirit reveals this wisdom to us. He infuses it into our souls, giving us a glimpse (still darkly and still incompletely) into the deepest, highest, most beautiful things of God. It’s only a glimpse, for as Paul says, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” We do not know exactly what Heaven will be like. We cannot reach up that far in our current state.

But at the same time, God has revealed something of this to us. We know that when we get to Heaven, we will be in God’s presence. We will see Him face to face. And we will be more immersed in His love and able to respond to His love than we have even experienced before. Yet we taste it now. When we who are baptized are in a state of grace, God’s divine presence dwells within us. We already share in His divine life. He pours His grace into us along with the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We even receive our Lord, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, in the Eucharist.

So while we still cannot fully grasp what God has in store for us, we can and do experience it already, as much as we can handle, right now. And the more we open ourselves to that experience, the more wisdom we receive and the closer we become to our loving God.