STAY AWAKE!

Saturday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time

Lk 21:34-36

This is the last day of the year as far as the Church’s calendar is concerned. Tomorrow is the First Sunday of Advent and we begin another liturgical year. As the Church’s ends and begins another year, she once again sounds her call for us to be always vigilant, for we know neither the day nor the hour when the Lord will come again.

During the time of St. Paul the Apostle, the early Christians thought that the Lord would come back in their lifetime, that the end of the world would occur not when they would have passed away but while they were still living. But the Lord did not come back and certainly all those who were contemporaries of St. Paul are now demised. And we continue to wait for the Lord in our days. Not because the Lord has not been coming back, it means that He will never do. Not because the end of the world has not happened yet, it will never happen. Not because Judgment Day did not come during the lifetime of our ancestors, it may not come during ours.

Be vigilant! Be watchful! Be ready!

As we go about our daily chores and advance in age, let us always keep in mind three things. First, nothing lasts in this lifetime except love on which the final judgment on us will be based. Second, the Lord will come again to take us with Him but we cannot go with Him if we consciously refuse to do so. Third, the end, no matter what we do, will surprise us.

Stay awake! The Lord’s return is not a dream. It is for real.