Today I feel as if the Gospel echoes the urgency my soul has felt for years. For years I feel I have been reminded of the truth I have heard today.
Today at Mass we heard that
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Be watchful! Be alert!
You do not know when the time will come.
It is like a man traveling abroad.
He leaves home and places his servants in charge,
each with his own work,
and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.
Watch, therefore;
you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming,
whether in the evening, or at midnight,
or at cockcrow, or in the morning.
May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.
What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”*
After Mass today, Father Isaiah pointed out to me that this Gospel passage could be calling us to be vigilant so we recognize Jesus when He comes to us in our daily lives. On any given day, we may cross paths with a homeless person; we do well to remain alert so we see Jesus in that poor person in front of us.**
Of course in these Gospel verses Jesus is telling us that we do not know the day or the hour when He will come again, in His Second Coming. We do not want to be unprepared when He returns, but instead we want to be ready for his arrival.
Most often when I hear these Scripture verses, I am reminded I do not know when I will be called from this life to the next. I have taken this directive from Jesus as an urgent call to attend to the duty of the present moment, to be constantly striving to love God and my neighbor, since at any given moment, this life might be about to end.
Over and over in my life I have been reminded of the truth that I do not know when my time will come. For many years now, my friends and friends of friends have passed away having had little or no warning. They were not expecting death, yet at times it came unannounced, probably coming earlier than they had been anticipating.
A college classmate of mine, Chris, once he was in his mid-twenties, died from complications related to cancer. A few years later, Liz, a dear mentor and co-worker, in her late thirties had a headache at work one day; that night she expired from a cerebral hemorrhage. Less than a half dozen years later, another co-worker in his late forties got up one morning and very soon thereafter suddenly collapsed from a fatal heart attack. Around the same time, a friend of a friend, in his early fifties died during the course of an operation. About a half dozen years later, another friend of a friend, Eric, in his forties lost a battle with brain cancer. Around the same time, Karen, a former co-worker in her late fifties or early sixties passed away after only a day or two of any evident health challenge.
Over and over I have been reminded that I do not know when my time will come. Today in my heart, mind and soul is echoing the reminder of today's Gospel that has been presented to me repeatedly during my life. And so, what has been reinforced in my soul I say to you: Be watchful, be alert, since you do not know when the time will come.
* Mark 13:33-37
** Matthew 25:40,45
