In the second letter to the Corinthians (5:17), Paul states that whoever is committed, through baptism, to Jesus Christ is integrated or participates in the "new creation." Everything starts anew because the real world (distinguished from the fanciful world of fear, egoism, greed, and our folly) is a world where everything is interconnected through the love of Christ.

We live in this new creation, in this radically new universe: in the new city, with its new "political system," where no one is a slave or a resident alien, deprived of their dignity. We live in the here and now, but at the same time, in a future that is already present. We live at the "point" where the present touches the future.

As we begin to mature as Christians, a realization dawns that our hope in Christ is not merely about some future event. It concerns a future that has already begun, and which is revealed in our relationship with one another, with Jesus Christ, and with Him whom Jesus calls "Abba, my Father." It is the life of the Triune God, unfolding before us and becoming our life – in the present moment, yes; but in a way that assures us it will continue to develop into depths for which we cannot find words or images, in the vastness of the "riches and wisdom and knowledge of God" (Romans 11:33).