WORD 2day: Saturday, 34th week in Ordinary time
November 28, 2020: Revelation 22:1-7; Luke 21: 34-36Behold I am coming soon! At times it annoys when we hear people go hysteric about this statement. However, it is not a statement to make everyone panic, but a gentle reminder as to how one should live one's daily life. It is not something that should make is run for cover or throw spiritual tantrums, but a constant life style that should make us conscious any time in our life about who we are and what we are called to.
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). If you are frightened of it or if you are interested in frightening the world about it, imagine how far you are from being true children of God!
The message is clear: that neither inaction nor hyper action is expected of us; neither carousing 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.
The Gospel presents us that call: 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. What matters is we live our daily lives, every moment, with responsibility to God and availability to our brothers and sisters, conscious of our choices and conscientious of our failures. But all the time serene, because one who says he is coming soon, is our Saviour!
The secret is to live our lives as children of the light, here and now, calm and composed, but awake and vigilant!