Jesus said to his disciples:
“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.
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.”
For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth.
The end time will not come upon us quietly and easily. There will well up inside us apprehension. The imminent and abrupt nature of the event will catch all present in motion.
We live each day assured in our subconscious that tomorrow will come. We plan and assume and expect and construct our day and priorities around the fact that our problems will be here tomorrow. Our work that is needed to be done, will be with us tomorrow. Our loved ones and bank account and security, will be with us tomorrow.
But Jesus says that when he returns it will be like an assault. All our preconceived and rational expectations of what is and what will be tomorrow will be gone.
Priorities will collapse.
To do lists disappear.
Our plans vaporized.
Our possessions like dirt clods on a muddy road we no longer walk…forgotten.
All that will matter is how we have prepared for that moment.
Jesus warns against allowing distractions to take our attention away from this moment. He had so many parables about waiting it was a key point he tried to convey again and again.
That one day nothing will be as important or matter except our readiness to stand before the son of man and be sober in our living, at peace in our heart, and prioritizing nothing over aligning our will to his.
He said that carousing, spending our life drinking and celebrating as a way of life was not going to prepare us for that moment. We must be sober and intentional in everything we do to ensure our life is not one of distraction. Whether it is partying or TV or social media or even worrying.
It’s interesting that Jesus puts drunkenness and anxiety as two specific examples of how not to prepare for his coming. Certainly, we can include anything that inhibits our prayers or study or focus on Jesus Christ. And in his time, drinking and anxiety were primary to that end, much like it is today. We have more distractions though, and our anxiety can assail us from more directions. Entire families and societies are owned by social media. Now more than ever it is easy to be busy with nothing that will matter when we are face to face with Christ.
Perhaps another way to look at this is to ask what do we want to be doing when Jesus enters again into time and assaults all our plans and lives.
Perhaps we should pray constantly and consciously. Certainly, we should set time aside to pray when we wake and before we sleep. The Angelus at noon and a brief moment of prayer mid afternoon. Maybe 3.
The more we pray the more likely that moment might catch us during prayer and that would be a very cool place for a Christian to be at that moment.
And if we pray and pray more, we will grow closer to him, and it will shape us and ensure we are ready. Maybe the assault will be abrupt but with those who do not allow distractions and anxiety to own their time, it will be a small shift, for we were already focused on his will for our life. And nothing else mattered as much as following his way. Isn’t that what our calling is in the first place?
Deacon Tony Pynes 
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