Do you think we are in the end times? Do you think the world is coming to an end? I have heard these or similar questions over the past few years and longer. I have also heard definitively by some that we are in the final days and that the world is indeed coming to an end. The more we spend time watching the endless news cycle, I can understand why people may feel this way. I don’t need to share a list of the hardships we are going through in the world. In addition, many of us also have our own unique struggles that we are wading through, sometimes feeling like we are neck time and some days sinking even deeper.
This same question of the end times even came up with the disciples. They asked Jesus when that day would come and Jesus said that only the Father knows the time or the hour (cf. Mt 24:36). I believe Jesus was saying then, has repeated in every generation, and is saying to us now, that is the wrong question to be asking as a disciple. Spending time speculating about the end of the world is not to be our focus.
St Paul also chimed on this topic when he wrote to the Church in Rome, “Brothers and sisters: I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us” (Rom 8:18). From Paul to this day, each generation has had to face its own trials and tribulations. There is hope in that this life is not all that there is, but that does not mean we just indifferently endure and trudge through this life until the end. We have other options than mere existence, living in a constant disposition of fight or flight survival of the fittest mode.
There is a powerful scene in the movie, The Lord of the Rings, where one of the main characters, Frodo, a halfling, is speaking with Gandalf, a Christlike figure. Frodo was feeling overwhelmed with the task that he had been entrusted with which was to destroy a great ring of power. He turned to Gandalf and said: “I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.” To which Gandalf replied, “So do all who live to see such times but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
The Lord of the Rings was written by JRR Tolkien who personally witnessed the atrocities of the First World War. If you are looking for a good book or trilogy to read, I would highly recommend it. It is not only a powerful parable of hope, courage, and transformation, it is a deeply Christological parable. Once seeing the size of the trilogy, one might say, “I don’t have the time to read it!” I might then reply, “I invite you to give up the time you spend watching the news and put into reading the tale instead.” Doing so might give us all a little more peace.
Another invitation I could offer is to read the Bible each day, such as the daily readings of the Mass. All of our readings today as well as what I have pointed out so far are interconnected with the principle that God works in small ways to affect and bring about change and a greater good. No matter the time or season, his word does not come back void. This change is not just about some abstract ideal. What God offers each one of us is his love and if we are willing to accept it, personal transformation. This comes forth rather powerfully in the Parable of the Sower.
Do we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear Jesus when he comes close in his word in the Bible, in our seemingly coincidental experiences of each day?
There are happenings or incidences, I like to call them God-incidences, where Jesus is present and active in our lives, where he draws close to us each day. Jesus’ word is constantly being sown into our being through our interactions with one another and our experiences. We are invited to receive him, allow him to take root in our lives, and we are to share the fruit of his love as a result of our growing relationship with him. If we receive the love of God, allow our the resistance to be tilled and turned over, the rocks of sin to be tossed out, the weeds to be uprooted and tossed away, we will have some fertile soil in which to receive the invitation to be loved, forgiven, and healed.
Let me give you a few examples from my own life of seeds sown, of God-incidents, of Jesus drawing close.
Growing up we would often share holidays with my mother’s parents. As we settled in around the table we would continue to visit as the last of the food was placed on the table. My grandmother would sit down, and if the conversation went on a little longer, she would say something along the lines of, “Ok old man, let’s go.” My grandfather would say in a mock, wounded way, “Snucksie, I’m talking.” She would give him “the look” and then he would make the sign of the cross and pray the Our Father. Sometimes he read a short prayer from a little devotional. In times alone with my grandfather, he also encouraged me to take time to be still and quiet and also passed on to me his love of books and reading.
Each of these were seeds that found good soil in my heart and mind. They were impressed upon me because my mind and heart was open to receive them. I was moved deeply and I believe these were times when Jesus drew close and I opened the door and let him in. If we allow ourselves to recall, we can look back over the years of our lives and see where Jesus has drawn close through the those important people in our lives. The opposite may also be true, and it is important to be honest when and where we have been hurt, for in those places of pain that we are still wounded, we may not trust. Where we curve in upon ourselves and may not be willing to let God love us there.
There may be a lot on your plate right now. Even so, I learned from my wife, JoAnn, that life is short and we cannot take the time we have for granted. Life is hard and it is, even if long too short. I have spent time keeping God at a distance and I have spent more and more each successive year allowing him to come closer. I choose more and more to spend less time in the promises of what the world offers for safety, security, power, pleasure, fame, and honor, all goods when properly ordered, but like weeds that can choke and strangle our spiritual lives if they are placed first or replace God.
I invite you as my grandfather invited me to spend some time in silence and to be still as you finish reading these words. After some deep, slow breaths, invite God to speak in the silence of your heart. As anxieties, worries, false promises, lures, half-truths, apparent goods and disordered affections arise, allow your heart and mind to soften, breathe into them, identify if there any thoughts that are at the source and then choose to uproot them if not of God. Allow the seed of God’s Word, Jesus, to find root in your life. Allow the Holy Spirit to nourish you with his love.
Even in troubling times, personally right at home, communally, nationally, or internationally, we are not to be strangled by the growing uncertainties, divisions, and even expressions of inhumanity. Instead, we are to till the soil of our hearts and minds, dig out the stones, and uproot the thorns, thereby preparing rich soil that is open to receiving the seeds of God’s love. As we continue to care for our garden, we will produce the rich fruit of his love, experience forgiveness, healing and wholeness to be shared.
It is our choice regarding which soil we want to have. As Gandalf said to Frodo, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
Photo: My grandfather and me.
Spiritual Stepping Stones 