I get cantankerous when it comes to going on trips and when it comes to leaving the house really. I am a homebody for sure. It’s not that I don’t want to travel, I do. Everything that needs to be done, that can go wrong, the sheer number of people that I’ll encounter, all of that. It all adds up and creates this wall of fatigue that simply makes me want to go back to bed. When I first came to Illinois, for a time it manifested itself as agoraphobia and I couldn’t even leave the house. Add on Christmas, Thanksgiving, duties of family, church, and all the other problems that go with finances this time of year and you have a chemical storm of emotions that can quickly overwhelm even the most extroverted of us.
It’s hard to remember in the midst of all these things that stress us out that all of this is but a flash in the pan. Both of the readings for today’s daily Mass talk about how what stands now will fade away. People will eventually forget our names, our homes will eventually be replaced by someone or something else, and even our societies come and go. So many of us live as if the future is a far way off when in reality it’s passing as I type. Jesus tells us that no matter what we hear, “do not be terrified.” That’s not easy sometimes. We can’t forget the past, that would be idiotic. Forgetting the ways we have treated people and creation, in general, would be a recipe for repeating the same mistakes. Living there though keeps us from being aware of the present. We also can’t live in simple fear of the future. All the anxieties of tomorrow will eventually be anxieties of today, and quickly of the past. The trick, the key, is to live in the present. Learn from the past and keep those lessons alive, do not be ignorant of the future but after being prepared, spend your time right here and now with God and with your loved ones.
A friend of mine just reminded me this morning of the need for stillness, the need for silence. The Gospel today says that people will come going “look at that,” “fear this,” the “end is near.” Again, “don’t be afraid.” Love Jesus. Listen for that still small voice. Cling to the faith, the Sacraments, for they are a gift from God. Live your life in love for others, helping to lift up those in need. We are members of an everlasting kingdom, one that is open to every person who will come to Jesus and be reborn into His Body. It is a Kingdom with no boundaries, no more war, no more fear. It is a Kingdom that can be right here, right now if we let it. All we have to do is take a moment, ground ourselves, and look around. It’s in that still small voice, that moment of grace, that He will connect with us in a way that maybe only we will understand… but He’s there if we just listen and look for Him.