Face to Face: The Dawn of Eternal Love
“For the Souls in Purgatory – Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord”
1 Corinthians 13:8–13
Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Grace Prayed For
Ask for the grace of “Holy Longing”: Pray for a heart that is so anchored in the hope of eternal life with the Trinity that you are empowered to love others with a selfless, unwavering charity that transcends your current circumstances.
Reflection
In the quiet of your prayer, Jesus invites you to look past the “partial” things of this world—the anxieties, the temporary successes, and the incomplete understandings that often clutter your spirit. He speaks of a love that “never fails,” a love that is not just a feeling, but the very essence of the Trinitarian life you are invited to share.
Deepening Intimacy with Jesus To grow in intimacy with the Trinitarian God is to move from seeing “indistinctly” to the longing of seeing “face to face.” Imagine Jesus looking at you right now. He does not see you partially; He knows you fully. Intimacy grows when you allow yourself to be seen in your wholeness—your wounds and your wonders alike. By resting in His gaze, you realize that your future is not a mystery to be feared, but a person to be met. The “Perfect” who is coming is Christ Himself, and He is already reaching out from eternity to touch your present.
Bringing Love into Every Encounter As this love takes root in your heart, it naturally begins to shine outward. When you encounter others, you are no longer seeing a stranger or a task; you are seeing someone who, like you, is destined for eternity. To bring the love of Jesus into an encounter is to treat the person before you as someone “fully known” and deeply loved by the Father. Because you hold the hope of the “Future Intimacy,” you can offer others a love that doesn’t demand anything in return—a love that reflects the stable, never-failing character of God. You become a living mirror, reflecting the light of the future into the shadows of the now.
When Time Allows Reflect on the Posts in Library and Musings
Sharing
Jesus last words on Earth were to his disciples, can be found in Matthew Chap 28 when Jesus told his disciples, “Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
Jesus calls all of us to share in his redemptive mission here on Earth. I would ask you to share this Scripture reflection with your family, your friends and your acquaintances, and then share it with a couple of individuals that you may may not be comfortable sharing with, keeping in mind always the words of Jesus, And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age
Author was assisted by AI in the drafting of this Post