We live by hope in a promise. We stake our lives on the promise that the power of love will prevail over all evil, that death is not the final word, that more awaits us beyond the dark veil that now separates the living from the dead.

We look to a future brimming over with excess of joy and delight, a future that is not yet fully ours here and now. All too often we are inclined to look to that tomorrow beyond all our tomorrows and allow what is ours here and now to slip through our fingers.

The biggest obstacle to growth in the Christian life may well be those words: "If only" or "What if." If only I did not have this irksome co-worker who drives me to distraction. If only my spouse would stop drinking. Or talking. If only my kids would stop keeping me awake at night with worry. If only I could find a better paying job. If only I didn't have these headaches all the time. If only I didn't have to live with cancer.

Then we could find time for deeper prayer, we think, or take the requirements of the Gospel to heart, or respond in generosity to the gift of faith and hope and love that God has given us. Then, when all the "if onlys" are out of our way, we can begin in earnest to make good on the one and only precious life we have to live. Or so we think.

But this is an illusion. Life is a never-ending tsunami of "if onlys" for those who opt to not step up to the plate of life in the Spirit at the one time it matters. Now. Here and now.

The readings for Ash Wednesday open with the words of the prophet Joel: "Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart." The second reading closes with Paul's bold proclamation: "Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation."

Life in Christ is "in the meantime." We live by memory and in hope. We keep Christ's memory in all way say and do. The Eucharist is celebrated "in remembrance" of his life, ministry, suffering, dying and rising to new life. Likewise we keep his memory when we "do unto others" as he has done for us. But the purpose of keeping memory is to live in the here and now soaked trough and through with the hope of future glory he has given to us.

All too often we are inclined to think of the core of our faith --- the Paschal Mystery --- as a past event. Or we may think of it as something we will come to know only in some distant future. But at the heart of the Christian faith is the conviction that the Paschal Mystery --- the self-emptying, self-giving of God in Jesus the Anointed in the Spirit --- is the manifestation of the God who has come and is coming.

But God's coming in self-gift is not confined to the past; nor is it put off for some distant future. God's constant coming is here and now. God's life, light and love are always and everywhere being offered, not just then --- be it past or future --- but here and now.

To live in the here and now this Lenten season entails relinquishing all our "if onlys" and "what ifs," resisting the temptation to put off to some distant future our wholehearted response now --- today --- to God's irresistible mercy. More: today is the "very acceptable time" to give up old worries and stored grievances which, no matter how small, are too big a burden for those who would enter by the narrow gate to the kingdom of God.

Looking for something to "give up" this Lent? Consider letting go of that one "if only" which may be the obstacle to receiving the fullness of life being offered to us during this season of grace.