Ordinary 29 Wednesday

Legend has it that a traveling pilgrim once found St. Francis of Assisi cultivating a row of beans in his garden. The pilgrim asked Francis, "What would you be doing right now if you knew this was the last day of your earthly life?" St. Francis smiled and replied: "I would keep on hoeing this row of beans." Francis was so at peace with the Lord that the prospect of meeting him didn’t change his daily plans one bit.

However, if someone were to us the same question, what would we do?

 

• Would we rush to tell certain people that we loved them, especially those we hadn’t told in a while?
• Would we run to church; grab our rosary; make an act of contrition?
• Would we apologize to someone?
• Would make a hasty donation to charity?
• Would we start refining our excuses?
• Would we weep with regret? Would we be afraid?
• Or, like St. Francis, would we be filled with peace?

As today’s gospel reminds us, our Lord will return at “an unexpected day and at an unknown hour.” Therefore, Jesus calls us to be watchful and prepared, so that we aren’t caught by surprise. In other words, we should live each day in expectation of meeting our Lord. So that when he does come, we can welcome him with joy.




(My book of daily meditations for Lent, to be published by Ave Maria Press in November, is available for pre-order: http://www.amazon.com/Daily-Devotions-Lent-Living-Gospel/dp/1594713634/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335995419&sr=8-1 )