For the time to reap has come… – Revelation 14:15

We travel a lot. Although my husband never complains, I know one of the things he doesn’t like about me is that I love to dilly-dally. I always pack things and fix myself at the last minute, so he ends up waiting until I am all set and ready.

       I am sure the Lord is way more understanding and patient than my husband, but when the time comes that He needs to get me and take me Home, I hope that I’ll be totally prepared and ready. Surely, I cannot ask God to wait!

       We are all travelers in this world and have yet to reach our final destination. Let’s enjoy the journey, but let us also make sure that we are geared up to face the Lord when it’s time for Him to call us. He has given us a lifetime to prepare for His coming, so let us not waste time fooling around. After all, we really don’t know when He will come.

       Let’s live each day always ready, in anticipation of that glorious moment when we will finally see Him face to face. Jane Gonzales-Rauch (mgr516@gmail.com)

Reflection: Are you loving this world too much? It’s more fun in God’s heavenly Kingdom, so you’d better shape up and prepare for that.

Lord Jesus, I look forward to spending eternity with You. Help me to get ready and make me worthy to be with You forever.

St. Columban, pray for us.

It is always the time to harvest. Why? Because there are many different crops, all of which become ripe at different times of the year. The same is true of people in their faith walk. We mature at different rates and will be ready for new ministries and roles at various stages of our lives. We cannot simply wait for a single moment to get everything done. We have to be constantly about the business of proclaiming the Gospel.

14 I, John, looked and there was a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud one who looked like a son of man, with a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Another angel came out of the temple, crying out in a loud voice to the one sitting on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap the harvest, for the time to reap has come, because the earth’s harvest is fully ripe.” 16 So the one who was sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested. 17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven who also had a sharp sickle. 18 Then another angel came from the altar, who was in charge of the fire, and cried out in a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and cut the clusters from the earth’s vines, for its grapes are ripe.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and cut the earth’s vintage. He threw it into the great wine press of God’s fury.

R: The Lord comes to judge the earth.

10 Say among the nations the Lord is king. He has made the world firm, not to be moved; he governs the peoples with equity. (R)11 Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; let the sea and what fills it resound; 12 let the plains be joyful and all that is in them! Then shall all the trees of the forest exult (R) 13 before the Lord, for he comes; for he comes to rule the earth. He shall rule the world with justice and the peoples with his constancy. (R)

We need to be vigilant when it comes to the spiritual nature of a certain practice. There can be all sorts of reasons, from a human point of view, for following a particular practice of spirituality. However, if the spiritual basis of the practice is not Christian, and worse, antithetical to Christian beliefs, then we should stay away from them as they will not help our Christian walk in the long term.

Remain faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

5 While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, 6 “All that you see here — the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” 7 Then they asked him, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” 8 He answered, “See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’ Do not follow them! 9 When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end.” 10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.”

think:  We have to be constantly about the business of proclaiming the Gospel.

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Baruch 4-6

TURN, TURN, TURN

The 60’s singing group, The Byrds, popularized something that both the Old and the New Testaments taught, as indeed, taught by the passage from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8: “There is a season for everything under heavens.”

       One thing about getting older is that one can look back realistically and see past events for what they were, not for what one wanted them to be. Being young has it advantages definitely, but seeing things in future realistically may not be one of them. One can dream of big things, but what one conjures up in dreams and desires may or may not come true for you and me.

       God knows how many plans I have made, how many projects I started, and how many worthy and unworthy dreams I have conceived, and not everything ended up as what the world calls “success.” In retrospect, not everything was meant to be.

       But Stephen Covey, more than two decades ago, taught us to look realistically at something that is not yet but still to come. “Begin with the end in mind,” he counseled. Start out, not with whimsical dreams, but with a long, hard look at how everything will end up eventually, sooner or later.

       This, in essence, is what today’s readings remind us of — that there is an end to the world and the realm of worldly time as we know them. The readings help us set our sights on the “end” – the reality of the final judgment at the Second Coming of the Lord, at the end of time. This is something that has always been part of the whole teaching of the Church since the beginning (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1040).

       The past is over and done with, and there is not much we can do about it except accept it. The future is yet unfolding, and while we rightfully think we can do a lot about its outcome, the one certainty that we all would do well to remember is what the liturgy throughout this week reminds us of.

REFLECTION QUESTION: How do you regard your unfulfilled dreams?

Let me trust in Your ways, Lord — now and for always.