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Today is not yesterday. We ourselves change. How then, can our works and thoughts, if they are always to be the fittest, continue always the same? Change, indeed, is painful, yet ever needful; and if memory have its force and worth; so also has hope.
- Thomas Carlyle
(Growth is about change. Where are you experiencing the invitation to grow at this time in your life?)
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WIS 13:1-9; PS 19:2-3, 4-5AB
LK 17:26-37
Jesus said to his disciples:
"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.
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.
So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
On that day, someone who is on the housetop
and whose belongings are in the house
must not go down to get them,
and likewise one in the field
must not return to what was left behind.
Remember the wife of Lot.
Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it,
but whoever loses it will save it.
I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed;
one will be taken, the other left.
And there will be two women grinding meal together;
one will be taken, the other left."
They said to him in reply, "Where, Lord?"
He said to them, "Where the body is,
there also the vultures will gather."
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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"It was much the same in the days of Lot; they ate and drank, they bought and sold, they built and planted. But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and brimstone rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed." —Luke 17:28-30
Jesus' second coming and the end of the world through fire is certain. However, the exact time of these events is uncertain. Jesus said that no one knows the day or the hour (Mk 13:32; Mt 25:13).
Nonetheless, Jesus has revealed to us in the Scriptures many of the happenings which will precede the day of the Lord. He has done this so that we can approximate His final coming and the end of the world. This helps us be better prepared and to help others be prepared.
However, Jesus has revealed in the Scriptures that many people will disregard or be ignorant of the Scriptural revelation about the end of the world. Thus, they will be clueless on the final day even though the magnitude and speed of the world's destruction makes foreknowledge of the event even more critical. It will be "business as usual" up to the very end, as was the case before Noah's flood and the destruction
of Sodom and Gomorrah (Lk 17:26ff). Those people well on their way to hell will be surprised at the world's end. That's why Jesus revealed so much about the end — to keep us from being surprised by the greatest catastrophe in history.
Don't repeat the mistakes of the past. "Search the Scriptures" (Jn 5:39). Get ready for the great and terrible day. Come, Lord Jesus! (Rv 22:20)
Prayer: Father, I want to be ready and help as many as possible to also be ready.
Promise: "Whoever tries to preserve his life will lose it; whoever loses it will keep it." —Lk 17:33
Presentation Ministries
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Abandonment to Divine Providence
- by Jean-Pierre de Caussade
BOOK II,
CHAPTER I. ON THE NATURE AND EXCELLENCE OF THE STATE OF ABANDONMENT
SECTION VII. Submission a Free Gift to God.
Every soul is called to enjoy the infinite benefits contained in this state.
It is the same with regard to Jesus as with the divine action. If those who have no confidence in Him, nor respect for Him, do not receive any of the favours He offers to all, they have only their own bad disposition to thank for it. It is true that all cannot aspire to the same sublime states, to the same gifts, to the same degree of perfection; yet, if faithful to grace, they corresponded to it, each
according to his degree, they would all be satisfied because they would all attain that degree of grace and of perfection which would fully satisfy their desires. They would be happy according to nature, and according to grace, because nature and grace share equally in the ardent desire for this priceless advantage.
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