One of the greatest temptations we wrestle with as Christians is becoming too comfortable in this world, in this life. We cling to the comforts and goods of this life and forget that we cannot take them with us. We root and invest ourselves so deeply in this world we often forget to live in preparation for the life to come until, suddenly, our life here ends. When that unknown hour comes, will we be prepared?
Jesus speaks in our Gospel of the “end times,” of His return; as C.S. Lewis wrote in our reflection yesterday, “When the author walks on to the stage the play is over.” There are several moments in the Old Testament when people’s whole worlds came to a crashing end, and many were unprepared for it. Noah was prepared because he not only listened to God’s warnings but he was already living his life for God: he was not living for this world, but for the next, and thus when the floods came he was prepared for life in the new reality. What was everyone else doing? “…they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.” These are not bad things, but how often do we pursue such things as the highest goods, higher even than the ultimate good: God?
Likewise with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah: the wicked people of those cities sought only the pleasure and fulfillment this world could provide them, even going to horrific extremes for their own satisfaction, and then it all came to a destructive end. Even Lot’s wife, looking back on what was being lost, forfeited the new life that awaited her, because she wanted one last look. When the Lord comes, there will be no time to go back for something, no opportunity to turn back to take one last look at what is being left behind. We will not be able to turn our faces away from Him because He is so glorious and desirous to behold, or we will be caught so unawares our eyes will be shut with horror, for we will be presented with something we never truly wanted: Jesus.
Yet He does not want us to be among those latter: He wants our encounter with Him at our death or at His Second Coming to be a joyful one! And thus He gives us Scripture, He gives us the Church so that we might come to know and love Him now, to recognize Him and establish a relationship with Him in this life, preparing for eternity with Him in the next. He gives us the Sacraments—especially the Eucharist—so that we may enjoy a heavenly bond with Him even before we are in Heaven. We need not wait! He desires us, in a sense, to be “taken” by Him now, rather than be taken unawares at some future point.
Do not wait until that final moment to know Jesus; do not live your life seeking Heaven on Earth, when it is not to be found here. You were made for more: you are made for God, and life with Him. Do not settle for a hill of dust when you stand to inherit a Kingdom!