Saturday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 508

Be vigilant at all times
and pray that you have the strength
to escape the tribulations that are imminent
and to stand before the Son of Man."

Anyone who supposes that belief in the Lord sets them on Easy Street has not read the scriptures or any lives of the saints. We know that Jesus was sorely tried as he approached Jerusalem. Like Daniel in today's first reading, he found his spirit anguished within its covering of flesh, and was terrified by the visions of his mind.

"Welcome to the human condition!" he might say to us, although we thought we knew something about it. We knew, but hoped we were wrong. We thought it shouldn't be this hard. 

Advent in this age of consumption is an especially trying time for the faithful. Like Edgar Allen Poe, we ponder over quaint and curious volumes of forgotten lore during this bleak December while our culture aspires to gaiety. Those ancient tomes of the Bible, pulled off the shelf or recovered from the night stand, remind us of our weakness and persistent habit of sin. Despite the saving and wonderful works of God in which he demonstrates enormous authority and power to deliver us out of slavery and provide for us under the most trying circumstances, we want to do it ourselves in a world that's not half so difficult. 

We love to say -- and often do say -- "Thanks, God! But we can handle it from here!" And then with a cheerful nod and smiling salute we amble into trouble. Things never work out the way they're supposed to. 

Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy

from carousing and drunkenness

and the anxieties of daily life,

and that day catch you by surprise like a trap.

For that day will assault everyone

who lives on the face of the earth.

When we take off the man-made goggles which skew reality in our preferred ways and see ourselves as we are and reality as it is, we also find the saving presence of God. We hear his voice, "I am with you always." It is that same consistent message we heard in the wilderness of Sinai, and throughout our history. 

Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,

you shall cry for help, and he will say: “Here I am!”

If you remove the yoke from among you,

the accusing finger, and malicious speech;

If you lavish your food on the hungry

and satisfy the afflicted;

Then your light shall rise in the darkness,

and your gloom shall become like midday;

Then the LORD will guide you always

and satisfy your thirst in parched places,

will give strength to your bones

And you shall be like a watered garden,

like a flowing spring whose waters never fail. (Isaiah 58:9-11)