Daniel 12:1-3
Psalm 16:5, 8-11
Hebrews 10:11-14, 18
Mark 13:24-32
Once when I was around twelve
years old or so my parents went to one of the LSU games and left me home for
the evening. I got permission for my best friend Stephen to come over but my
parents made the point clear that we couldn’t go swimming in our pool and I
wasn’t to leave the house. I told them I’d be good and they went off to the
game. Thinking I was smart, I calculated the time they’d be gone and figured I
had at least 5 hours to do whatever I wanted before they returned home late
that night. So, Stephen and I called some friends over, we all went swimming
and then we left and went riding bikes around Stephen’s subdivision. As we
passed by Stephen’s house during our little excursion his mom came outside and
told me, “Brent, your parents just called and said they want you home.” I rode
back home, walked through the pool water soaked back porch and into the kitchen
where my parents were waiting. I had no excuse, nothing to say. I just went to
my room to await whatever punishment and grounding was inevitably headed my
way.
Nowhere in my brilliant
calculations had I considered the possibility that my parents might leave
early. Never did the thought cross my mind that they’d leave after halftime
because the Tigers were doing so well; I figure four quarters of football meant
they’d be there for all four quarters. I was wrong and I was totally caught off
guard when I realized that they were home and I wasn’t.
Looking around at the world
today, it seems to me that far too many of us are out riding our bikes and we
are absolutely unprepared for what is inevitably coming our way. The Lord
reminds us today in the Gospel that though we know not the day or the hour, He
will return. It could be tomorrow, next week, a hundred years from now or it
could be before I finish this homily. He is going to come in glory and judgment
for each of us, and the Lord challenges us to be prepared.
The problem, though, is that
there are so many things going on in the world around us that we get caught up
in those things and lose sight of the main thing. We get consumed with sports,
fashions, and all the latest news, gossip, and fashion. We get prepared for
Thanksgiving, for Christmas, and for all that comes with it. And in the midst
of all that preparation it’s easy to lose sight of the most important
preparation of all – that of our soul. We forget that He really is coming back.
Without really being conscious of is we seem to tell ourselves that He hasn’t
come back yet and it’s been 2000 years – surely we have more time. And we might.
But we almost might be wrong like I was with my parents. So we must prepare our
hearts to be ready for whenever He does come. We must strive for holiness, to
be saints on earth who long to be brought up to Heaven.
And to do this we must put the
desires of our heart into action. This is why the Lord calls to mind the image
of the fig tree in the Gospel today. Many of the trees in that region were
evergreens – they stayed the same year round with little change in them. But
the fig tree changed visibly. It’s branches would change and leaves would
sprout as summer drew near. In the same way, our lives ought to be visibly
changing little by little as we are perpetually drawing near to the return of
Christ in glory. As the weeks and years go by people should see the change in
us that leads them to the understanding of the Lord’s coming in the same way the
fig tree indicates summer.
 |
| 'Fig Tree' by Yvonne Ayoub |
All of us want to improve
ourselves, to become better people – better parents, better spouses, better
children, and a whole variety of other things. We know those places in our
lives that need to change and we have the desire to change them, but the
reality is – and you know it as well as I do – that we aren’t going to change
unless we actually begin to put out desires into concrete actions. At our
priest retreat this year Bishop James Tamayo from Laredo, Texas challenged us
on this point. He said ‘You want to pray more? Good. Make a concrete
resolution. Every day at twelve noon I will stop what I’m doing and pray for 15
minutes. Or everyday from 6 to 7 in the morning I will be at prayer in the
church.’ This was just one example, but it’s a clear one. If we want to change
something about ourselves, to grow in a virtue or cut our a bad habit, we have
to make it concrete so we can measure it and push ourselves when we start to
fall away from it. So I want to
challenge each of you, and myself, to spend some time in prayer this week to
find that one thing we want to change right now and come up with a concrete way
to change it, then hold ourselves accountable to that in the coming weeks and
months. We need not worry about having the strength to do it because God will
provide that. If He permits the simple fig tree to change itself based on the
coming of seasons, how much more would He bless us who are created in His own
image and likeness with an abundance of grace to conform ourselves more to His
Will in preparation for the Lord’s return? He has been faithful and He will be
faithful to us. And as we continue to change things in ourselves one by one,
surely when the Lord comes or when He calls us to Himself, we will not be
caught off guard and unprepared, but rather fully prepared and happy to finally
behold the face which we have longed to see.
Thank you for the reminder of making concrete goals in which to evaluate our spiritual growth. Even small changes can make a huge difference. It reminds me of a story a mother told of wanting to stop yelling at her kids so much. She made a point of not yelling from the hours of 5pm-6pm and gradually moved on from there. Baby steps is what it takes sometimes, but with baby steps we can still walk a mile.
ReplyDelete