To live alertly so as not to die
“Be watchful! Stay alert! You do not know when the time will come.” The invitation of Jesus is pressing because those who live asleep in this life will remain asleep forever. Even after death.
Instead, if we live awake and alert, we will not die, because we are aware of our existential task, which is to reach fulfillment, to help the person that we are emerge and be reborn. In short, living alertly means that we are aware that we must bring to completion the life we have received.
The Greek word for truth in the Gospel is aletheia, which literally means “removed from lethargy” (lèthê: oblivion), removed from inescapable sleep/oblivion. Consequently, a person who truly lives does so consciously, responsibly, in a state of continual alertness, attention.
To be alert means to keep our eyes open. Owls, with their enormous eyes, can see clearly even at night. This is the alertness to which the Gospel is calling us: to see in the night what others do not see. To perceive a Presence even where everything seems to be shrouded in darkness. To see meaning where everything seems meaningless. To see love even when everything seems to be colored by enmity and hatred.
Indeed, the Gospel calls us to go even further. It calls us to see God in the people alongside us because he is present in them.
Taken from the homilies, by Fr. Paolo Scquizzato
Stir up your power
and come to save us.
