On that day, someone who is on the housetop and whose belongings are in the house must not go down to get them,
and likewise one in the field must not return to what was left behind.
Remember the wife of Lot.
Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it.
As we approach the Solemnity of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, and the end of the annual liturgical cycle, we hear premonitions of doom.
Many Americans, lacking religious imagination, cannot recognize the similarity of these warnings to the environmental catastrophes that are happening all around us. Very often texts messages are sent, radios sound the alarm, sirens wail, while young journalists stand out in blizzards, hurricanes, forest fires, and rising seas to dramatize the danger; and still people hesitate to evacuate. "This will pass." they say. "We've seen it all before."
But many people have already experienced the end of their world, either as they perished or as they lost everything familiar and friendly .
On the other hand, a sect of the National Rifle Association -- so-called survivalists -- prepare for TEOTWAWKI, "the end of the world as we know it." They would have it both ways. They think with adequate preparation they can outlast any and all catastrophes while preserving their "way of life." Some amass guns and ammunition to ward off the hordes of wretched beings who have not prepared. They imagine the post-apocalyptic dystopia as a wild west of homesteaders vs. thieves and rustlers.
In a quieter strain, our religion urges us to remember Lot's wife. We remember the past but don't expect to return to it.
Instead of the world's Ebeneezer Scrooge, Grinch, and Santa Claus we contemplate the Holy Couple about to become the Holy Family. The young Mary of Nazareth will experience the end of her childhood as she bears her firstborn son and then flees with her husband and son into Egypt. Joseph will abandon his home, family, reputation, and clients as he listens to the whispering magi and heeds a dream warning.
From the day when Abraham first heard God's command -- "Go forth from your land, your relatives, and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you." -- to this day, God's people have known upheaval, migration, and change. If Christmas seems like a tradition steeped in tradition, its original story tells us to expect the unexpected.
We don't know where it will end but we know the Lord always goes with us. And we go nowhere without our faith in God.
"And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.