So often, the cares and problems of daily life can get us down.
There is always something to worry about, isn't there?
It may be a worry as mundane
as a traffic tie-up to make us late. Or it may be something as serious as major
surgery or financial problems that have come to a crisis point.
Whatever our worries may be, we must remember that this world is
temporary - and all our worries are temporary too! All these worries of ours will pass.
After that, what will be constant is our place
in eternity. St. Paul expresses to the community of Christians at Thessalonica,
“the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-6, 9-11) We definitely don’t know the day or the hour
when a person will pass on to the Lord; there’s no predicting that event. We all know with certainty that we will die;
that death is the ultimate act of our lives.
It is certain, but yet it remains an unsolvable mystery: we don’t know
the when or the “how” of our death; we only know that it will occur.
How do we deal with that mystery?
One clear way is by living each day fully as a gift of God. St. Paul reminds his community to live their
lives alertly and know that “God did not destine us for wrath,” but for living
with one another and for the Lord.
Paul’s words here remind me of St. Irenaeus that the glory of God is the
human person fully alive. The challenge
for us is to appreciate that even our ordinary, every-day actions are important
in the eyes of God, especially in our interactions with others.
Lord, help me to prepare for
a happy death by focusing on the moments you give to me. Let me be aware that my actions today are a
foretaste of my life fully alive in you.
Keep me close to you and attentive to those you have blessed me with in
my life. Thank you for your constant
invitation to grow as a person of faith, hope and love.
