Preparing Ourselves!

Friday, November 15, 2024

2 Jn 4-9; Lk 17:26-37

Today’s Gospel highlights the second coming of Jesus and the need for us to be prepared to receive him.

While Jesus’ return is certain, the uncertainty regarding the exact time of his coming demands that we are ever prepared.

Jesus’ words imply that the impermanence of this world should help us concentrate on what is eternal. 

Hence, Jesus desires that though we are in the world, we are not to be of the world (Jn 15:19). In this sense, Jesus wants us to practice detachment as a way of ensuring our focus on the things of God and not on the things of this world. 

While the examples of Noah and Lot suggest the normalcy (that was unaware of the impending judgement of God) that prevailed before the deluge and destruction, respectively, Lot’s wife is shown as an example of an unhealthy attachment to this world that even overlooked the instructions of the angel of God. 

While we need our relationships to pass through this world, we must know that they are incapable of saving us from God’s judgement. 

Only a virtuous life lived in accordance with God’s word can save us from what is coming. 

Let us pray that we may worthily prepare ourselves to receive the Lord through our virtuous lives. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar