Always Prepared

Be always prepared.

He may come even in the second or third watch of the night.

Every month a few friends and I, former co-workers, meet for breakfast at a diner.

Last week we were surprised when our friend Bob showed up.

Bob had heart surgery a couple years ago when he was about 50.

Something went wrong and he wound up partially paralyzed and unable to speak.

He's improved a little since then.

He's mentally sharp but still has great difficulty speaking.

And he still suffers the paralysis and he's wheelchair-bound and frail.

His wife, Gretchen, has been taking good care of him.

She's the one who brought him to the breakfast to see his old friends.

Yesterday, I got a phone call from Bob's neighbor.

From his voice, I immediately sensed that something was wrong.

I thought, Uh-oh, something's happened to Bob.

He looked pretty good just last week.

The neighbor said he had some bad news.

Sometime during the night, Gretchen had died in her sleep.

We all have personal knowledge of sudden, unexpected deaths.

And we hear about more of them every day in the news.

Accidents, heart attacks, and a dozen other causes.

We know that our lives can change—or end—in a second.

We see it happen all around us but, as with so many unpleasant things,

Our human tendency is to dismiss the thought that this could happen to us.

No doubt there are some people—even healthy people in safe places—

Who fully grasp the reality of their own impending death.

They're living life to the fullest.

Making every day count.

And spiritually, they're ready, prepared, waiting for the Master's return.

Busy storing up treasures in heaven.

But for many of us, our own death still seems a little unreal.

Intellectually, we know it's coming.

We're not particularly afraid to think about it.

We can talk about it.

But deep down, emotionally, there's still some stubborn denial.

It seems that at some level we're still telling ourselves:

If we truly are going to die—someday.

I mean, for real ... actually die.

We'll have plenty of time to prepare for that when we see it coming.

Won't we?

Tuesday, 29th Week of  Ordinary Time

Lk 12:35-38        Read this Scripture @usccb.org