Monday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Mass Readings
In today’s first reading from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians, we again find this recurrent theme of being prepared to meet Jesus. At one level they are a discussion of the end of the world. In every generation there have been people who thought the end would come during their own lifetime, and at some point in history, that will be the case. At another level, this encounter of Jesus occurs at every Eucharist. Of course, this encounter does not occur at some hidden time in the future, and therefore it is much easier to prepare for. Another encounter of Jesus, which is more difficult to prepare for, is at our death. This is one of the reasons we pray to Mary and ask her to pray for us “now and at the hour of our death,” for we do not know now how much we will need her intercession at the hour of our death. We do not know when we will find our end. At yet another level, we may encounter Christ in the stranger, in the poor, in the downtrodden. Often these encounters are difficult to prepare for.
The primary level of interpretation at which St. Paul is writing deals with the end, the very end. But the point of his message is that we must always be prepared, we must always be ready. We need to love others, to encourage one another, to follow Jesus wholeheartedly, as if today were the end of our lives, as if today were the end of the world, as if we were going to meet Jesus at His return, today. Our actions must reflect our life in Christ. This is why St. Benedict’s Rule says that those under the Rule should “keep death before their eyes daily.”
If we keep the end before our eyes daily, we should act in such a way that every loving action may be our last. This should not cause us to fear or despair, but rather to love and serve others to the fullest, as Jesus loved and served others. Let us then prepare ourselves for encountering Jesus in prayer, at our next Eucharistic celebration, at the end of our lives, and at the final judgment.
- Maria Morrow