Growing up Catholic, I was taught that eternity was something that happened after death. It was an infinite expanse of time stretching out after my earthly existence. Heaven was eternal life, a reward waiting for us if we lived virtuously. This shaped how I viewed time itself. Life was preparation, a prelude to the real thing.

Then I encountered a simple statement that cracked my understanding wide open: "You are in eternity now as much as you'll ever be." Wait, what? This collided hard with my childhood theology. If eternity was now, what did that mean for heaven? For death? For how I was living?