THE PAROUSIA
Memorial of Saint Andrew Dŭng-Lạc, Priest, and Companions, Martyrs
My dear encountered couples:
Is Jesus maybe trying to get us to rise above what we experience here? All that we consider precious and beautiful will someday be gone, he is telling us. They will exist no more. Our homes with all their furnishings and comforts and conveniences, our cars with their Pandora music and sun roofs, our latest iPhones, our designer clothes, our trees and fields and flowers, they will all someday be gone. We are not to hold on to anything in this world as if our life and happiness depend on them. It is God we should keep our sights on; it is Jesus our thoughts should be occupied with; it is heaven we must never forget is to be our only real and permanent home.
St. Luke in his gospel tells us that, “People were speaking of how the temple was adorned with precious stones and votive offerings. Jesus on hearing this said to them, ‘These things you are contemplating - the day will come when not one stone will be left on another, but it will all be torn down.’ They asked him, ‘When will this occur, Teacher? What will be the sign it is going to happen?’” Jesus did not give them a clear answer. He just wanted them to know it will happen and they should be prepared.
We are to live in this world with our eyes set on the world that is yet to come, and will surely come. We are to appreciate, take care of, and use our homes, our cars, all our wonderful things as gifts from God, but only temporary gifts to help us during our time on earth, remaining mindful that someday we must give them up - perhaps long before we die.
Nothing we have, nothing on earth, not even the earth itself is permanent. Let us never forget that. Like we might now be focusing our thoughts on Christmas, which we know will come and soon be gone, let us be sure we keep our thoughts, our eyes, our hearts on that which when it comes will never be gone. Jesus Christ is coming. Let us be sure we don’t miss him.
May you live happily in this world without letting it blind you. It is only temporary.
