In today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus tell Nicodemus and us that whoever believes in the Son of God will have eternal life, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned because he has not believed. Now, this does not mean that all who do not know Jesus are automatically condemned. The future of those who, through no fault of their own, have not been given the gift of the Faith is known to God, and it is God’s business alone.

But we who know our Lord and Savior have an eternal future that depends on our response to Him. Are we with Jesus or not? For those of us who do know Jesus and are with Him, the course of our eternal future is clear: the Beatific Vision, Eternal Life with the Father in Heaven.

If we are with Him, if we say yes to the gift of faith that God has given us and are sincere, our yes will be manifest in everything we do. Jesus taught us and showed us the way. Jesus tells Nicodemus and us that “whoever lives the truth comes to the light so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.”

It is too frightful to ponder the eternal fate of those who fail to respond affirmatively.