Monica, I agree with what you say here. I especially like your insight re turning a highly eschatological concept into a dialectical one, or into an operational value - one that has implications for daily living. IMHO we cannot fit the gospel into our lives, we have to fit our lives into the gospel, and how we chose to do or not do this is the process of our journey. What I find many folks don't like, especially these days, is the trust and openness this requires on our part. It seems to be a matter of believing 'in' Jesus as opposed to believing 'about" Jesus. If we believe the right things then we know, and can judge others who do not know as/what we know. Pastorally this is a problem, especially these days. What is especially great about what you wrote is that neither condemns nor absolves people a priori. Many commenters in these pages do not go along with this. They know, and, therefore, can judge the rest of us. Time for espresso, and work on Ash Wednesday homily.