Already but Not Yet

Homily for Tuesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Psalm ninety, which is used as our response today, is classified as a communal lamentation. Though the Lectionary for Daily Mass leaves out a good portion of this psalm, the verses that we use today force us to meditate on the shortness of human life. God exists in eternity. From before creation to the last human generation, God is God. Human beings, on the other hand, are fleeting like sleep at dawn or grass in the desert sun. We are reminded that we are dust, and unto dust we will eventually return.

However, it is important for us to remember that the lamentations found in the Book of Psalms never conclude without moving us from the lament to a resolution of our concerns; in this case, the shortness of life. Toward the end of the psalm, we pray: “Fill us at daybreak with your kindness, that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.” This final stanza frames this particular lamentation as a prayer of trust. We proclaim the Lord to be our refuge, we ask for the continued favor of the Lord throughout all of our days.

In the reading from the Second Letter of St. Peter, we are exhorted to wait for and hasten the coming of the day of God. He reminds us that while we live in the “already but not yet” times of the Kingdom of God, we place our faith in the new heavens and the new earth that will come about when the kingdom comes to fulfillment. We look forward to that new heaven and new earth with joy and gladness as we realize the providence of God.

The question that is posed to Jesus in the Gospel text for today is another example of the “already but not yet” times of God’s kingdom. The Pharisees and the Herodians, whose natural antipathy toward one another seemed to dissolve for the moment, approached our Lord together “to ensnare him in his speech.” As he has done in the past, Jesus eludes their snare. His answer navigates between the temporal and the eternal. We live in this present age where the kingdom has begun while awaiting the age to come where the fullness of the kingdom will come to be. Anything and everything that exists within creation is because God wills or allows it. Until the coming of God’s kingdom, we must act responsibly in the light of what is to come in the future time of fulfillment.

As we gather to celebrate the Eucharist today, let our hearts be filled with joy and gladness as we await the realization and fulfillment of God’s kingdom.