Ready?

In today’s Gospel, our Lord gives us comprehensive advice about how we should both live in the present and face the future.

Much of the advice is rather familiar to us, especially after so many of the readings in recent days have been telling us in one way or another to prepare for the end of the world, but there is also something special here.

Our Lord reminds us that the world will indeed end and that it will forcefully surprise the world. (When we read such passages, we also remember that death ends the world for individuals and that it can happen for any of us at any time.)

Lord, have mercy.

Thus our Lord tells us to be “vigilant at all times.” (We need to be ready and watchful, not only because at any moment the Lord could take us into the next world, but also because at any moment the Lord could present us with tasks to perform for him in this world.)

Our Lord also reminds us that there will be things taking place before the very end (often referred to as tribulation) and that prayer is the way to escape these troubles. Prayer is also necessary for us to prepare to stand before him at judgment.

Lord Jesus Christ, son of the living God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

Our Lord also says something very special in the beginning of this passage.

Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy
from carousing and drunkenness…

That seems fairly straightforward - alcohol and drugs numb our minds and cripple our hearts, as does a lifestyle of partying – but the verse adds to this mix the phrase “and the anxieties of daily life.” Thus one may read:

Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy
from… the anxieties of daily life.

Indeed, anxiety can be like alcoholism on several points: they can both be crippling, they can both impair our ability to think and to feel, they can both be covering over some unresolved question deep within ourselves, and they both prevent us from focusing on love of God and neighbor.

Even if “the anxieties of daily life” do not cripple us in all these ways, yet we can become so busy with all the details of daily life that we forget the big picture. The details of our daily life can even be filled with godly things, yet we can be so busy that our hearts become drowsy: we focus on action for God and lose focus on heartfelt love for God.

We must be vigilant. We must be ready. We must pray.

An end (and a beginning) could come at any time.