Listening to Fr. Corapi talk about his past, much of it regrettable. An idea occured to me that one of the theological ideas which interests me most - the notion of God and Heaven lying "outside of time".
What do I mean? Well, that is the way the Holy Mass works. The Consecration of the host is a presentation - a re-presentation, but not merely a representation, of the Sacrifice at Calvary. It happened once and only once - the priest is not re-crucifying him but, to our linear minds, looping back in time to the one sacrifice that is the ultimate offering for our sins. There is much more to the idea, of course, and it is very beautiful. To my physics-trained mind it is fascinating.
Now the idea that occurred to me is the great gift of time, i.e., that our lives lie "inside of time". While the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Christ "lie outside of time", our lives apparently lie within time. Not least those bits that we should regret, as Fr. Corapi does. Through the sacrament of penance, we are given the grace, the opportunity to push back those regrettable moments and lock them permanently fixed in time. No looping back or being re-presented with them. What a glorious gift that is! Now that doesn't mean that we won't have to live with the consequences while within this life, within our "time". But it does mean that we won't have to take them with us when we are unbounded by time in the next life. That leads naturally, I think, to the idea of purgatory. Even our attachment to the "regrets" (read: sins) must be expunged before we fully enter into eternity. Or we will be forever re-presented with them - that would be hell, no?
