Given
the state of today’s world, there seems to be an awful lot to be
anxious and to worry about. Consider the testimony of John Mauldin,
an investment advisor and entrepreneur. I subscribe to his weekly
newsletter and in yesterday’s edition, Mauldin wrote:
With
seven kids, jobs have been on my mind of late. It has not been easy
for some of them. It helps me to remember what it was like to be in
my 20’s in the ‘70s and to really struggle to pay the rent and put
food on the table for a family. Savings? Hah! And while I have
been able to help the kids here and there, back then there was no
one to help me. More than a few nights, I woke up with a knot in my
stomach, wondering whether to pay rent or make payroll.
College did not prepare me for the “joys” of being an entrepreneur.
None of us today has to be a financial advisor or entrepreneur to be
able to identify with the anxiety and worry John Mauldin relates
about the years when he was a young husband and father. What’s
going on economically, socially, and most important, morally, in
today’s world is enough to cause even the most Stoic among us to
wake up in the middle of the night and, unable to fall back asleep,
to spend the next couple of hours trying to figure out what we need
to do.
The Lunestra people get it. That’s why they advertise during the
sleeping hours when people aren’t sleeping? They want the
unsuspecting to drug themselves into not having to deal with the
reasons for all of that insomnia!
Today’s scripture readings focus upon a spiritual remedy that is
better than a drug, the word “preparation,” in the sense that each
of us needs to be ready for what’s going to unfold. But, it’s
important to note, this sense of being “prepared” isn’t by having
pills available so that we can sleep ourselves through the muddle we
find ourselves in. Nor is it the sense of the Boy Scouts’ motto “Be
Prepared” which means “always being in a state of readiness in mind
and body to do one’s duty.” In specific:
·
“Be
Prepared in Mind” means having disciplined oneself to be obedient to
every order, and also by having thought out beforehand any accident
or situation that might occur, so that one knows the right thing to
do at the right moment, and is willing to do it.
·
“Be
Prepared in Body” means making oneself strong and active and able to
do the right thing at the right moment, and then to do it.
In
contrast to the Boy Scouts’ meaning of the term “be prepared,” which
stresses mental preparation, today’s scripture describes the term
“be prepared” as being “wise”—not doing things right but
doing right things—because, as the Book of Wisdom taught:
…taking thought of wisdom is the perfection of prudence, and whoever
for her sake keeps vigil shall quickly be free from care.
Taking a cue from the spiritual meaning of being prepared, those of
us who are anxious and worried about so many things demonstrate that
we are not prepared and, thus, oftentimes end up not just
being surprised when adversity strikes or, worse yet, imprudent.
That is, all of the fretting—the anxiety and worry—reveals souls
riddled with fear, not souls that meditate on God’s wisdom and have
learned to trust in it, come what may.
It’s very difficult and challenging to live this way, trying to
discern what God is teaching us in the “middle of the muddle” and,
then, to do what’s prudent, as God defines that, especially as we
grow older and our need for sustained sleep dissipates. But, the
opposite—to be filled with worry and anxiety—is no way to live.
Jesus describes this spiritual meaning of the word
“preparation”
in his parable that pits the five “wise” virgins against the five
“foolish” virgins. The parable’s moral isn’t about “stocking up for
a rainy day” as if oil for lamps and evening weddings is what’s
really important in life. That’s the type of preparation required
of Boy Scouts to earn merit badges. Instead, this parable’s moral
is about being prepared for what’s most important in life, the
advent of God—God’s breaking into our daily lives—and having the
eyes to see and the ears to hear what’s really going. And, if not
simply to see and to hear, at least to catch a glimpse into what’s
really going on so that we will act prudently. That is wisdom.
I
think this an important spiritual lesson because it’s so easy for
any of us to act imprudently. When we hear stories propounded in
the media which make us feel as if the “end time” is near, we can
allow those stories to cause so much anxiety and worry that we think
that it’s normal to spend our time living with those feelings. The
cause may not be, as scripture attests, “rumors or war and the end
times.” But, in my unscientific
“phone-a-friend”
survey yesterday, it seems that:
·
Many
parents today are anxious and worried about what their children may
and may not be learning in school. They lie awake at night
wondering, “How are my children going to turn out after graduation?”
·
Spouses are anxious and worried about how today’s adverse economy
may negatively impact them, not only today, but also in those
hoped-for “Golden Years.” Many spouses lie awake at night
wondering, “Will there even be those Golden Years”? And, for many
in those Golden Years, they wonder if there’s going to be enough
cash saved to make it to the end of those years!
·
One
thing unites citizens on both sides of the political aisle today:
The direction the nation is taking. The specter of terrorism,
global economic problems, and yes, believe it or not, personal
obsolescence—being viewed as “useless” as society and life
“progress”—cause many citizens on both sides of the political aisle
to lie awake in the middle of the night feeling anxious and worrying
about what the future portends. Could it possibly be true that too
many human beings have lived beyond their “shelf life”?
How is it possible to “prepare” for all of these things?
Let’s consider first what being “unprepared” might look like:
·
Parents spend so much time working to have a comfortable life and to
enjoy all of the goodies—the “fruits of their labors”—that they are
too tired to spend much, if any time with their children while they
are growing up.
·
The
wretched economy causes the loss of a job, a significant decrease to
cash flow that makes it impossible to make the monthly mortgage
payment, or even more threatening, the loss of healthcare
insurance. Spouses have no bank savings but only a mountain of
credit card debt. Little wonder they lie awake during the night
wondering: “What am I going to do to pay the bills?”
·
Terrorists strike the nation again, the Euro zone collapses and the
stock market collapses, or we find ourselves unemployed and in need
of a job. That’s enough to scare the bejeezes out of any
responsible adult!
Many people in these circumstances find themselves saying “I should
have been prepared.” To be sure, it’s quite likely we would
also end up saying the same should we end up having to deal with
situations like these.
But, how should we prepare for them?
The scriptural meaning of “to prepare,” as that term is used in
today’s readings, is “to make ready in advance.” It’s exactly what
St. John the Baptist said when he announced, “Prepare the way of the
Lord. Make straight his paths.”
“To prepare” requires that we learn how God relates to human beings
by developing “ears to hear” and “eyes to see” what God is trying to
teach us. Believe it or not, God is present in all of those events
that are causing so much anxiety and worry. Those who are prepared
are attentive to, hear and see, and accept God’s lesson. That is
wisdom! In contrast, those who are not prepared are not
attentive to, do not hear or see, and reject God’s lesson.
The challenge for us, then, is “to watch therefore, for you know
neither the day nor the hour” when God will break into our lives.
In
this sense, being prepared has to do with today—God’s presence in
our lives, our homes, our marriages—not some unknown end time when
the stars fall from the skies and the like. It means not being
anxious and worried but, in the midst of all of those things that
could make us very anxious and extremely worried and to act
imprudently, continuing to focus upon loving God and neighbor as we
love ourselves.
Practically speaking, this means parents who continue to love and
care for their children, even should they go astray. Who else is
going to get them back on the narrow path? It also means
spouses who are more than ever willing to work together to resolve
their financial challenges rather than to allow those challenges to
drive them apart and into divorce court.
Haven’t we seen enough of this in
the past few years?
Lastly, it means realizing that our value as human beings is not
found in a job, but when we are without a job, seeing how God
continues to be present in our lives, perhaps in those generous
souls who come to our assistance and ask for nothing in return.
It’s so easy to lie awake in the middle of the night and to be
anxious and to worry about what tomorrow is going to bring, isn’t
it? But, when we are prepared—as scripture defines that term—we
possess “the oil” of good works and deeds that provide the fuel out
of all that anxiety and worry, all of that feeling sorry for
ourselves, and all of the accompanying narcissism.
Describing this wisdom, Mother Teresa of Calcutta wrote:
What
are the oil lamps in our lives?
They
are the little everyday things:
faithfulness, punctuality, kind words,
thoughtfulness of another person,
the way we are silent at times,
the way we look at things,
the way we speak, the way we act.
Those
are the little drops of love
which make it possible for our life of faith to shine brightly.
“To be prepared” is to allow “our life of faith to shine brightly”
by seeing and hearing God when He breaks into our lives, especially
in those places where we believe God is least present. This
preparation is the quality or state of soul wherein we do not lie
awake in the middle of the night full of anxiety and worry or, like
the five foolish virgins, “shopping until we drop.” No, spiritual
preparation builds that quality of state of soul wherein we
continuously learn, perfect, and struggle to remain stay awake and
vigilant so that when God makes Himself present to us in the middle
of the muddle, we possess the “eyes that see” and the “ears that
hear” exactly what God is teaching us.
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