“See That You Not Be Deceived” by Melanie Rigney

Tuesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(After interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, Daniel said:) “The great God has revealed to the king what shall be in the future; this is exactly what you dreamed, and its meaning is sure.” (Daniel 2:45)

Give glory and eternal praise to him. (Daniel 3:59b)

"See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,' and 'The time has come.' Do not follow them! When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end." Then he said to (the people), "Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky." (Luke 21:8-11)

 

Image credit: Thomas Cole
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Piety

Lord, show me how to keep my eyes, heart, and soul focused on You.

Study

We don’t know what we don’t know, and sometimes, we don’t know what we do know.

Regardless of your political bent, it’s tempting to feel despondent about the world. Some of us felt that way on September 11, 2001; others, when nuclear weapons were dropped in Japan in August 1945.  And when we feel helpless, we look for easy fixes and answers.

Doubtless, people felt that way in the fourteenth century when the plague wiped out a third of the world’s population from Iceland to India in just three years.  While today the generally accepted theory is that rat fleas carried the disease, the people of the time didn’t know that. What they knew was something bad, very bad was happening and came up with innumerable causes. They blamed lepers and Jews and killed them. They feared the Lord was punishing them or that the end of the world was at hand, and took on all sorts of self-inflicted penance to prepare.

And yet, here we are, nearly six hundred years later, seeing what we think are signs that the end times are near. Maybe they are. Maybe they’re not. But as Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel reading, when wars and plagues happen, we are not to be terrified. Nor are we to turn to those who claim to have all the answers. We already know the One who has all the answers. Our job, regardless of tempted we are to drown in anxiety, is to believe, love, and spread His news.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that at the Last Judgment, “in the presence of Christ, who is Truth itself, the truth of each man’s relationship with God will be laid bare. The Last Judgment will reveal even to its furthest consequences the good each person has done or failed to do during his earthly life.”

It’s pretty simple, simpler than we’d like to acknowledge. We can wring our hands over earthly divisions, and look to politicians, celebrities, pundits, and even addictions to get us through what we regard as unbearable times. Or we can, in our own way, whether it be through prayer and contemplation, through direct aid and activism, through loving conversations, or through some other practice, build our own faith and help others grow in the belief that God has this covered and always has. That is the one thing we know for sure about the future, and it is all we need.

Action

Spend an hour unplugged from devices and people today or sometime this week. Lay your terrors and fears at the altar. Repeat.