Word to the Wise
Tuesday, September 2, 2025 - Tuesday in the 22th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Thess 5:1-6, 9-11 and Luke 4:31-37]But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, for that day to overtake you like a thief. 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 did 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. [1 Thessalonians]
If one reads the letters of St. Paul in a chronological sequence instead of the traditional way they are presented in the Bible, one may see a gradual progression of thought about the Second Coming of Christ - the "parousia." The Letters to the Thessalonians show some anticipation that Christ would come in the lifetime of many who were alive at the time the letters were written. There was concern that those who died before the event would miss out on salvation! St. Paul assures them that it is their relationship with the Lord that matters, not the timing of the Second Coming. Anyone who was faithful and died before the Second Coming would be saved. It was Jesus' life, death and resurrection that are the saving events, not the Second Coming (or "parousia"). However, the Thessalonians (and we!) should live in consideration of the lack of knowledge of the timing. One way of putting it is to say, "Don't 'play chicken' with the event!" and feel there will always be time to change one's way of living.
It is reassuring to know that "God has not destined us for wrath," but we can choose not to participate in the offer of eternal life with God. Efforts to predict the Second Coming have uniformly failed, as history can teach us. St. Paul urges us to stay alert and sober and encourage one another. It's better than gambling on the timing! AMEN.