“For the world in its present form is passing away.” (1 Cor 7:31)
This world, in its present form, is not our permanent home. We have been created to enjoy eternal, blessed union with God. Sometimes we can allow the lens of present concerns to distort or even altogether obscure the glimpses of eternity which we hear of in Sacred Scripture. St. Paul has his eyes trained on eternity, and it is from the perspective of heaven’s permanence and this world’s passing nature that he offers his counsels to the married and the unmarried: it is a good thing for a person to remain as he is.
It is also from the perspective of eternity that Jesus teaches us to see both the sufferings and the delights of this world: they are passing. Christ discerns a clear contrast between the present and the world to come. Considering the eternity of blessedness or woe which awaits a person based on the criterion of charity, Our Lord informs us of the inversion of sorrow and joy that He sees. As I consider my relationships, as I consider how much energy I invest in avoiding suffering and ensuring present comfort, Christ’s words call me to conversion. Let us pray that we may turn our ears to His voice, that we may not make an idol of present comfort, and that instead we may consider how our eternal king beckons us through the sacrifice of true love into happiness which truly lasts.