“As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left. Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Mt 24:37–44)
If I had to choose one word that should stand among the dominant concepts in relation to the Second Coming of Christ, it would be “vigilance.” Vigilance means breaking free from the habit and lethargy that so easily envelop us. Vigilance means that the soul focuses on what is essential and lives in the kairos.
Indeed, the mere fact that our earthly life is subject to death should teach us how important vigilance is. If, thanks to faith, we have understood that, compared to eternity, this life is less than the blink of an eye, and that in eternity our closeness to God will depend on how much we have responded to His love in this world, then we will live in fruitful vigilance. Now is the time when we can act; now is the time when we can “store up treasures in heaven” (cf. Mt 6:20); now is the time when, day by day, we can show our love for God! We have only this life, entrusted to us by the Lord, and in Him this time belongs to us.
The Gospel passage we heard at the beginning of today’s meditation describes how man clings to natural life. This attachment is so strong that nothing can awaken him or make him understand the signs of the times. Nothing can move him to perceive the true situation of life and respond to it appropriately. Therefore, he will not recognize the coming of the Son of Man through the signs that precede it. Man is totally unprepared.
There is a defensive vigilance, which is alert to the dangers that threaten a person and leads him to take the necessary measures to prevent them: “But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into”
But there is also a vigilance of love: that of those souls who await the Return of their Lord and work fervently in His vineyard. In such souls, love for Christ has already awakened, and they can even hasten His Coming, as the Apostle Saint Peter suggests:
“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God…” (2 Pet 3:11–12).
With regard to the spiritual life, which gains additional dynamism through the conscious expectation of the Lord’s Return, both attitudes of vigilance are important and complement each other.
The vigilance of love, which is a sign that the presence of the Holy Spirit is growing in us, makes us attentive to even the slightest desires of the Lord. Furthermore, it leads us to strive conscientiously to fulfill with a spirit of piety the tasks the Lord has entrusted to us in our lives (the duties of our state).
On the other hand, vigilance wrought by the Spirit of God is also aware of the dangers that surround man. Great trust in God, which grows through love, in no way makes us blind. It does not lead us to a naïve or immature attitude that cannot assess situations, but rather allows us to see things from God’s perspective. Thus, vigilance is not fearful tension or an overestimation of evil, but neither is it mere optimism that “everything will turn out fine.”
As for the Lord’s Return—which, as we have heard, we can even anticipate through love—we know the signs that will precede it. They have already been described to us in sufficient detail. The Lord even points them out specifically so that we may know how to recognize when His coming is imminent.
Therefore, throughout this week, we must listen carefully to what Jesus tells us about His Return and welcome it all with vigilance, because the Lord is near.
Come, Lord Jesus, Maranatha!
Meditation on the Gospel of the day: https://en.elijamission.net/the-question-of-authority-2/