For
you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief
at night. When people are saying, "Peace and security," then sudden
disaster comes upon them, like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you,
brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, for that day to overtake you like a
thief. For all of you are children of the light and children of the day. We are not of
the night or of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let
us stay alert and sober. For God did not destine us for wrath, but to gain
salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we
are awake or asleep we may live together with him.(1 Thessalonians 5:2-6,9-10)
I believe
that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living. (Psalm 27:13)
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| Photo credit is: Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons |
In
the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried
out in a loud voice, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have
you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God!" Jesus
rebuked him and said, "Be quiet! Come out of him!" Then the demon
threw the man down in front of them and came out of him without doing him any
harm. (Luke 4: 33-35)
Piety
Lord, help me to keep my focus on You
and how to serve You and Your people now. Help me to let go of regrets about
what happened yesterday and fear about what may happen tomorrow.
Study
Worrying
is dangerous.
Many
of our first-world worries of the day—will Metro be a mess yet again, will the
store have canned lentils, will the repair person come on time—are, in the
scheme of things, minor. They suck up time and space in our heads and souls,
even though we have no real control over them.
Worries
of the past take up room too: Did we respect our parents, long buried, as we
should have? Was it the right thing to go to that college twenty years ago?
What about that incident ten years ago that cost us pride, a fine, and maybe a
night in jail?
Worrying
about the future may be similarly futile. Regardless of what Jesus says in the
Gospels, can any of us actually know what judgment day or purgatory or heaven
or hell will look like? Can we truly understand the pain of permanent
separation from God… or the joy of eternity with Him?
Worry
accomplishes nothing and saps us of the time and energy we need today to do His
work. For if we do that to the best of our ability and sometimes beyond, we can
believe that like the man with the demonic spirit, we will be purified without
harm coming to us. We can believe that, as Paul says in today’s first reading,
we are not destined for wrath… but for salvation.
Action
Catch
yourself today when you start to worry over things large or small. Instead, do
something—say a prayer, laugh with a friend, call a family member. See the good
things of the Lord.
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