As it was in the days of Noah,
so it will be in the days of the Son of Man;
they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage up to the day
that Noah entered the ark,
and the flood came and destroyed them all.
It is possible, and a risk we all face, that we get so caught up in the rhythms and routines of daily life that we forget that there is anything else, anything higher or transcendent. We may begin to live forgetful of the fact that we need to be rescued from an impending catastrophe, and that Jesus did in fact come to save us. Jesus himself is our ark, saving us from the deluge by uniting himself with us in our baptism. His Spirit then descends like a dove bringing us the olive branch of peace with God. But if we forget about this vessel of salvation is is still entirely possible to be swept away with the waters of the flood. Moreover, it is all too possible that we show a lack of concern for others still outside of the ark, who seem to be enjoying things just fine thank you, although the rain is beginning to fall. While the doors of the ark remain open we must do what is in our power to help others enter and to ensure that we ourselves are found within when the waters of our death or of the end of all things sweep across our world.
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.
We ought not try to wait until the last minute to leave Sodom, the city of sin. We will not succeed in making a definitive break with it if we insist on looking back at what was left behind every few steps. We must plan our escape, that of our families, and that of our friends, before fire and brimstone begin to fall. If we have not made some distance from Sodom before destruction comes we risk being swept away together with it. The longer we hesitate the harder it becomes to cut our ties with the city. Similarly, the longer we wait to attempt to rescue others the less likely, humanly speaking, such a rescue becomes.
Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it,
but whoever loses it will save it.
Another way of stating the risk is that if we insist so much on saving the life we have known and preserving the status quo we may be doing the very thing that will most likely make us lose it. We are called to be ready to come out from the world and into the saving presence of our Lord. This is something we may rehearse throughout life as we choose him over and above even the highest goods of the created world. But it is something for which we all must prepare at the hour of our death or when Jesus comes in glory. May all of us be found in him, as he himself desires. May the things of this life not distract us but rather point us toward him, as they are meant to do.
For from the greatness and the beauty of created things
their original author, by analogy, is seen.
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