The crime-rate had turned upward again. Our schools were total failures and would not, could not get any better. There is a drug and alcohol epidemic in high schools. Divorce rates were increasing. Abortions were at an all time high. A wave of bad news was sweeping the earth and there is nothing anyone could do about it.
In Nigeria, everyone is angry, each time I drive on the streets I see nothing but pure anger, humans and non-human are angry looking for who to pour the anger on. Driver, conductor, and passenger even the bus itself is all angry and all hot, too many potholes. Woe betides you when you meet an angry conductor on your way out “and says enter with your change ooo and yet you entered with 1000 naira note. Husband is angry; the wife is getting too fat. Wife is angry; the husband is demanding extra meat with a small amount he drops. In the midst of all this trouble as a Nigerian imagine yourself not making heaven. That is what Fela Anikulapo Kuti called “double wahala for deady body”. In our first reading from Daniel he says “and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting pain. Where do you belong?
Our faith tells us that there will be a generation in history that will experience the second coming of Christ. There will be a time in history when a person may have but a moment to ask the question: "Am I ready? If our generation is not the generation to experience the second coming, then we all must still face the day of our death. For some of us it will be unexpected and sudden, even perhaps at a young age. For others it will be fairly predictable and follow a natural course. Regardless there will be a time in our personal histories when we will ask ourselves the question: "Am I ready? We are faced with a multiple of choices to make each day which may seem singularly insignificant; however, they often add up to pointing us in particular directions. Sometimes good. Sometimes bad. Are our many everyday decisions pointing us in the direction of making us ready? Are they helping us to get prepared?
With the business of life it is very easy to forget about our faith in the second coming of Christ. With the business of life it is easy to dismiss our mortality and put off what should be our constant preparation for the death which we all must face. With the business of life it is easy to disregard the interconnectedness of our daily choices and not recognize the combined impact they may have on our ability to face God in right relationship. Choices matter.
How do we prepare ourselves? How do we get ready? How will we be sure that the Lord recognizes us? The early Christians expected Jesus to come in their lifetime. "Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!" The world is filled with violence, injustice, and material greed. It is only when Jesus comes again that all of this will come to an end. His coming is long awaited by those who spend their lives waiting. The poor are always waiting. They wait in lines for handouts, they wait in hope of employment, and they wait for a better day to dawn. Oh come Lord Jesus and wipe away our tears.
Happy weekend
Fr law Sdv
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