Word to the Wise
Tuesday, August 31, 2021 - Tuesday in the 22th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Thess 5:1-6, 9-11 and Luke 4:31-37]For all of you are children of the light and children of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober. For God did not destine us for wrath, but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live together with him.Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, as indeed you do.
On the path along the Pacific Ocean, near where I have been staying this past week, there is a sign warning that the path is in a "tsunami zone." On one occasion years ago when I was here, there was a warning sounded and I had to go up a nearby hillside. The possible "tsunami" raised the ocean about an inch, so the warning quickly ended. Earthquakes will give signs of possible occurrence but the actual event cannot be predicted with precision. My hosts here keep a cache of supplies to take with them if they have to leave quickly.
I find the tsunami warning an apt image for the context of St. Paul's exhortation in today's first scripture. The context is the belief at that time that Jesus would return soon. St. Paul encourages the community to live as "children of the light" and to "encourage one another and build one another up..." The difference for us is that the task is a lifetime challenge, given the realization that the Second Coming cannot be predicted. It can only be prepared for, like an earthquake or hurricane. (Hurricane Ida gave only a very few days' warning!)
I want to note, too, that St. Paul does not envision this as a strictly "every one for him- or herself" but a mutual and communitarian task. We can ask ourselves at the end of each day how we may have encouraged someone in their faith or helped to build them up. This is the best preparation for the Second Coming. AMEN