15 November 2013
Friday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Scripture today foretells the end of time. Surely that will be a moment of terror for those unprepared. In the middle of his prophecies, Jesus includes the stark saying: “Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it.” God’s will is to save us. We must let Him. And that requires letting go of our pride and excessive attachments. In C.S. Lewis’ masterpiece, The Great Divorce, souls are metaphorically offered the choice between Heaven and Hell. They choose to be divorced from God in order to be married to lesser gods. They all have something gravely evil that they prefer to God and that prevents them from being in God’s presence. Pope Francis in his daily homilies exhorts us to flee from the false gods of pessimism, nastiness, gossip, and greed. Let us pray today for the grace of the freedom of the sons and daughters of God, letting go of what keep us from God, so that we may live eternally with Him.