Be Prepared: A Spirit of Watchfulness
Homily by Msgr. Robert Nusca for Monday, October 21, 2024 of the 29th Week in Ordinary Time, Daily TV Mass
The Lord made us, we belong to Him (Psalm 100:3)
Jesus Teaches the Disciples on the Road to Jerusalem
In today’s Gospel we find Our Lord teaching His disciples as they journey to Jerusalem. And Our Lord’s teachings here are aimed at helping His followers to be truly wise on their journey through this passing world.
His words encourage us to strive to appreciate and to discern the difference between earthly riches and heavenly rewards. For as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us:
Here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. (13:14).
When we consider the mystery of the return of Christ in judgment at the end of time, admittedly, this is a topic that is never very far from sight in Christian thought. It is the subject of serious reflection from the earliest years of Christianity, as we see in the very first Christian writing, St. Paul’s 1st Letter to the Thessalonians, written about 49-50 A.D.
In our own time, wars and rumours of war, have led many to engage in speculations concerning the end of the world. Some focus on terrifying visions of divine judgment, others on “the three days of darkness,” and so forth.
As Catholics we don’t believe in any “blueprint” concerning the final days. Our understanding of the return of Christ is rather more nuanced.
Yes, Our Lord will return in judgment at the end of time, but we encounter Him every day:
• through the life of Faith;
• in the life of Prayer;
• the Sacraments of the Church;
• in the Word of God;
• and especially in the Eucharist where Jesus is really and truly present;
• and we encounter Christ, and are called to serve Him in the poor and suffering.
Is Jesus returning soon?
Jesus Christ is with us every day where two or more are gathered in His Name (Matt. 18:20). As for those who believe that the “end of the world” is near, we should consider paragraph 670 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Since the Ascension, God’s plan has entered into its fulfillment. We are already at “the last hour,” quoting the First Letter of John 2:18.
So it is that we have been living in this “final hour” for some two-thousand years. Even if it were the case that the end is at hand, in Luke’s Gospel 21:28, Jesus states clearly that:
When these things begin to happen stand up, and raise your heads for your salvation draws near.
Ultimately, we are encouraged to live out our lives in the light of Christ’s return in glory at the end of time rather than in the shadow of any apocalypse, and to always remain confident in God’s power to renew all things, no matter what happens.
I think that this is important, because of the real danger that fear, sadness, and a lack of hope in the future, risk distracting us from keeping our focus upon God and His ongoing presence in our lives.
Be attentive
Many of you will be familiar with the writings of renowned British author C.S. Lewis. He suggests that rather than focusing too much on the future, God ‘wants us to attend chiefly to two things: to eternity itself, and to the present.’
Lewis observes that God wants us to ponder eternity: to contemplate everlasting life with Him, with Our Lady, with St. Michael and all of the Angels and Saints.
Or God would have us ponder the present moment. He adds:
For the present is the point at which time touches eternity.
In the present alone ‘are freedom and reality offered to us.’
And so, rather than engaging in speculations concerning the future, Lewis writes that God would rather that we:
Obey the present voice of conscience, bear our present cross; receive the present grace that God is giving us; and give thanks for the things that are going well in our lives.
Rather than constructing timetables concerning the end of the world, and living in the shadow of Christ’s return at the end of time, today’s Gospel invites us to focus upon the mystery of the arrival of God’s heavenly Kingdom and to be prepared for our encounter with the living Christ in judgment at the end of time.
We are called to remain focused always upon the person of Christ – upon His glorious face – and upon the daily demands of discipleship.
And so, I think that it is important to appreciate that our understanding of the return of Christ is not without its complexity. For again, “yes,” Our Lord will return at the end of time, but:
• He is always at work in history - as Lord of Time;
• in nature - as Lord of the Cosmos; and
• in Sacred Scripture where we encounter His living Voice.
Christ is present in our hearts as the voice of conscience
We encounter Him in prayer- public and private, especially in the Eucharist. And so, again, the Christ who will return upon the clouds at the end of time in judgment, is always with us in many ways in our daily life. And, once again, Jesus is with us in the voices of the poor and suffering.
And so, Luke’s Gospel serves to remind us that it is precisely our attitude toward Christ - in the present moment - that is so important for our encounter with Him in judgment at the end of time. It is in this context of the ongoing presences of Christ in our lives as Christians, that Our Lord’s words in today’s Gospel about being attentive and being rich toward God should be heard.
Should disaster strike, we are always in the hands of God’s divine providence. Elsewhere in the Gospels Jesus and the disciples are in a boat at sea. And although Jesus is asleep in the midst of a great storm, He calms the turbulent waters as soon as the disciples call out to Him.
And so, no matter what may happen, Our Lord calls us to be rich toward God, as we bring the proclamation of the Good News of salvation to the ends of the earth: to comfort the sick, console those who mourn, proclaim God’s liberty to captives, and so on.
For in addition to a spirit of watchfulness and wakefulness, St. Augustine reminds us that to be attentive and to have our lamps lit means:
To shine and glow with good works.
Be Prepared
Finally, I think it is important to try and appreciate Our Lord’s call to a spirit of watchfulness, as He calls us to be “rich toward God,” rather than trying to “store up treasures” in this world that will not last.
In the 1st Letter of Peter (5:8), the Apostle writes:
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Here, St. Basil the Great asks:
What is the mark of a Christian? It is to watch daily and hourly and to stand prepared in that state of total responsiveness pleasing to God, knowing that the Lord will come at an hour that we do not expect. (Morals 22)
And so today’s Gospel reminds us of the great importance of keeping watch over our inward thoughts, and of keeping constant guard over the inclinations of the heart. Closely linked with all of these ideas are the virtues of purity of heart and interior stillness as we strive to keep our focus upon God.
Let us pray for the grace to live our lives in a prayerful spirit of watchfulness, wakefulness and faithfulness to the Gospel and all of its concrete demands. Let us pray as well for the grace to give brave witness to the Gospel even in the face of persecution and to do so without giving in to fear and anxiety.
For as St. Teresa of Calcutta reminds us: We are all God’s children so it is important to share His gifts. Do not worry about why problems exist in the world – just respond to people’s needs:
We feel what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean, but the ocean would be less without that missing drop.
In this way we can live out our lives in the light of, and not in the shadow of the end of the world and the return of Christ at the end of time.
And nowhere on this earth is the light of Christ brighter, than in the Eucharist we are celebrating.