15 November 2019 - source of all truth and beauty

Today's Readings

(Audio)

As it was in the days of Noah,
so it will be in the days of the Son of Man;

When the ark is ready we need to be willing to get inside. This isn't so easy when we realize that to enter involves leaving behind many normal daily concerns, life as it has always been. People are simply eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. It all looks so familiar. The ark looks both unusual and uncomfortable.

Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot:
they were eating, drinking, buying,
selling, planting, building;
on the day when Lot left Sodom,
fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all

When the LORD warns us that the edifices of culture will not stand, that judgment is coming, we need to be willing to avail ourselves of his protection. We must follow the path he outlines to safety. We can't stand in the city of this world when he calls us into his Church. If we seek to maintain our lives in the world we lose them. Only if we are willing to surrender what we know in trust can we save our lives.

Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it,
but whoever loses it will save it.

Jesus reserves the right, even once we are within the Church, to call us higher and deeper. The call may come suddenly. If we are not prepared we might miss out on great plans which the LORD has for us.

I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed;
one will be taken, the other left.

If we're too deeply entrenched in the things that were made, beautiful though they are, we miss the deeper purposes of the one who made them, who is himself the source of beauty.

For from the greatness and the beauty of created things
their original author, by analogy, is seen.

The heavens and the earth are declaring the glory of God. They are teaching us to put first things first, not just eventually, but in the very moment we hear God call. It is as if creation says, 'Believe him. He is the source of strength and beauty. You can trust his call.'

Through all the earth their voice resounds,
and to the ends of the world, their message.