Keep Awake

 

Keep Awake for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 

Shortly after 9/11 the words “Fear Not” seemed a little out of place as the world was more than just a little uneasy.  I am forever reminded of the photo of Father Mychal Judge, a Franciscan priest, who served as Chaplain to the New York City Fire Dept, being carried out of Tower One of the World Trade Center minutes before it collapsed. He became the first registered victim at Ground Zero. The details of his death are unclear but some say he was fatally wounded as he administered last rites to a dying firefighter; others recall his being killed while in silent prayer.  Whatever happened, his lifeless body was discovered in the lobby and carried to a nearby church shortly before Tower I collapsed. 

Who knew how that the day that began with skies so blue and air so clear, would end as it did?  In many ways, Father Mychal personified the words of Mark’s Gospel (Mark 13:24-39) in that he was a man who had euphemistically arrived at Ground Zero long before 9/11, as he had proved himself to be ready to lay down his life many times during his career.  For him 9/11 could have occurred on any day or at any time... he was prepared.

If the thought of finding God amidst the devastation of these harrowing circumstances seems strange, it is because we may be out of practice looking for Him.  Yet, we believe that Christ's death and resurrection hold the final answer to all our fears. In sharing in his resurrection, Jesus removed our reasons to fear death forever.  Of course it does no good to recognize this on a merely intellectual level.  Just knowing that Christ loves us may not save us from fear, nor will it save us from death.  The only way to truly overcome our fear of death is to "be prepared" and to live our life in such a way that its meaning cannot be taken away by death.  As with Father Mike, it means fighting the impulse to live for ourselves instead of others.  It means being prepared to die again and again to ourselves, and to every one of our self-serving opinions and agendas. But about that day or hour no one knows.