- First Reading: 2 John 4–9
- Responsorial Psalm: Ps 119:1, 2, 10, 11, 17, 18
- Gospel: Luke 17:26–37
It is unfortunate that today’s Gospel begins where it does, because an earlier verse helps us understand the whole passage. There Jesus compares the coming of the Son of Man to lightning flashing across the sky. It is a striking image, and it gives context to everything else he says here.
I think many of us have had that experience. You are going about your daily life, and suddenly there is a flash. You look at the people around you and ask, “Was that lightning? Is that what I saw?” It happens so quickly and disappears immediately, yet it leaves a tremendous impression. We have all been surprised by it. Perhaps you have even seen it in the middle of the day, with no storm around. It is there, and then it is gone. That is how lightning is. It surprises us, and it makes itself known when it appears.
That is what Jesus is talking about with Noah and Lot. Because we know those stories, I think we sometimes assume his point is that, when he returns, the world will be full of sin, perhaps in the worst state it has ever been. And maybe it will be. But that is not his point here. His point is that everything will look ordinary.
Before the flood came, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. They were living normal lives, and then disaster struck. It was the same with Lot and his wife. The people of Sodom were going about their lives as usual, and then destruction came.
Jesus is telling us that the Son of Man will return on a day when we are simply living our lives. We will not have signs that allow us to say with certainty, “This is the moment.”
Yes, elsewhere in the Gospels he speaks of wars and rumors of wars, famines and earthquakes. But we live in an age of twenty-four-hour media. There is always a war. There is always a rumor of war. There is always a famine or an earthquake. We hear about these things continually.
They may remind us that the end is coming and that death is a reality we live with. But they do not tell us that this is the moment. These things have been part of human history for a very long time.
What we have to remember is that Christ will return on an ordinary day. We may be in the car. We may be at home in bed. We may be doing any of the things we normally do. And we have to be prepared for that moment.
We prepare by being holy, by committing ourselves to a life of prayer, and by serving our neighbor. Stockpiling food and building a bunker will not make us ready for the coming of Christ.
What could be better than for Christ to return and find you showing charity to someone in need? That is where you want to be found. And the only way to be found doing that is to be out doing it. We have to cultivate that life of charity continually.
We have to seek to love the people around us and care for them, remembering that each of our lives has an end and that human history itself has an end. Our only purpose in this life is to imitate God himself so that we can live with him forever.
As Christians, we should not live in fear of Christ’s return. We should not live in fear even of our own death. But we should prepare every day by going out and doing what we know is right, not because we fear his punishment, but because we love him and because it is right. His coming should move us to stop delaying and begin living that way now.
Be better every day. Be a little more holy every day. We will not reach perfection. Every one of us will struggle with sin until we take our final breath. But we can be better. We can allow God’s love and mercy to work on our hearts and draw us closer to him, little by little, so that we are always prepared, no matter how great the surprise.