Alarming or Life-giving; Hyper-action or Inaction?

Last day in the Ordinary time of the Year

December 1, 2018: Revelations 22: 1-7;  Luke 21: 34-36

Behold I am coming soon! At times it annoys when I hear people go hysteric about this statement. It is not a statement to make every one panic, but a gentle reminder as to how one should live one's daily life. St.Paul understood this well and instructed the Thessalonians: "For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. ...But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness" (1 Thess 5:2,4).

We are on the last day of the liturgical year, from tomorrow we begin a whole new cycle. Last day, last days, last chance and last moments... these are words with a bit of alarm inbuilt. Jesus does shake us up a little, warning us of things that will happen in the last days. Alarming yes, but at the same time life giving, says the Word today. 

These words mean that neither inaction nor hyper action is expected of us; neither panic nor drowsiness! It is not a call to live your life on pins and needles, anxious about the next moment; nor is it a call to live our life in mourning and bewailing for the lost moments. The call is to make the best of this moment and live the 'here and now' to the full, conscious and loving. That is the sense that the Gospel presents us: be vigilant at all times! Neither inaction, which is the product of lamentation of the past, nor hyper-action which is a frenetic preparation for an unknown future at the cost of the present, would help us says the Word today. 

If we are prepared, holding on to the Lord and living in perfect communion with the Lord, then we need not be alarmed, we can remain firm with our heads high, we can rest assured whatever time it be, our experience will only be life giving. When there are, or there have been, compromises in our way of life and our choices, then the alarm is natural and eventual.The secret is to live our lives as children of the light, calm and composed, but awake and vigilant!