Knock Knock

My magazine subscription was running out.

And I'd been getting repeated renewal offers for months.

They’d offered me road atlases, deluxe-bound appointment books,

And half-off for a gift subscription for a friend.

And finally, two years renewal for the price of one.

That two-for-one offer actually sounded pretty good.

So I put it on my stack of things to do.

Finally, I was ready to send it in, but then I saw that the offer had expired.

That was a fairly trivial loss.

But it’s a reminder that we do miss good opportunities.

We think we’ll always have time.

That the opportunities will wait until we’re ready.

But unfortunately, we all miss out on important opportunities.

And some of those are even tragic missed opportunities.

Death often plays a role.

Because death is the ultimate end of any opportunity to act.

It might be our own death,

Or the death of someone we wanted to get closer to.

Today, we hear Jesus warn the Pharisees and scribes,

I am going away and you will look for me,

but you will die in your sin.

They’re passing up the greatest of opportunities.

The opportunity to know God.

And they may not get another chance.

He tells them in no uncertain terms that he is God,

And that they will come to know that.

When you lift up the Son of Man,

then you will realize that I AM.

But then it may be too late for them to ever get closer to him.

Certainly too late to enjoy his earthly physical companionship.

And perhaps too late for them to accept even a spiritual relationship.

They refuse to recognize him now.

Despite his unprecedented wisdom and his many miracles.

That refusal, compounded with their coming role in his death,

May well harden them to even more-stubborn refusal later

May all of us recognize our truly important opportunities.

May we build and strengthen, and where necessary, repair,

The key relationships in our lives.

And especially, may none of us fail to recognize 
or act upon any opportunity to get closer to Jesus.

And may we act before time runs out.

Which means act now.

Because we never know when time will run out.

5th Tuesday of Lent

Jn 8:21-30      Read this Scripture @usccb.org