Nearness in Presence

"Rejoice," says St. Paul, "because the Lord is near."  But it is not a nearness in terms of time or of distance.  Instead it is a closeness of presence.  It is the proximity of his being and ours joining, a nearness filled with anticipation, more than were he only near in time or space -- a gap he might close so that we might see or touch each other, but not become one another in the union of his presence and ours.