Faith is not merely a personal reaching out towards things to come that are still totally absent: it gives us something. It gives us even now something of the reality we are waiting for, and this present reality constitutes for us a “proof” of the things that are still unseen. Faith draws the future into the present, so that it is no longer simply a “not yet”. The fact that this future exists changes the present; the present is touched by the future reality, and thus the things of the future spill over into those of the present and those of the present into those of the future – Spe Salvi.
Prayer To Our Lady Of Sorrows For Holy Church
O Mary, Mother of the Universal Church, Who didst consent to remain in exile upon earth after the Ascension of thy Divine Son, and for long years to be deprived of His visible presence, that thou mightest be the guide, the Mistress, and the loving Mother of the infant...