Memorial of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Virgin

“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man; they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building; on the day when Lot left Sodom, fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all. So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, someone who is on the housetop and whose belongings are in the house must not go down to get them, and likewise one in the field must not return to what was left behind. Remember the wife of Lot. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it.

We don’t know the day or the hour of the second coming of Christ, and because of this we should live every day as if it was our last one. We need to be detached from our possessions and willing to sacrifice them in love of God and His children. It is only by losing our lives through acts of charity and mercy that we can preserve our lives for the Lord. We will be constantly tempted away from God through our own selfishness, but we must take every opportunity to come to know, love, and serve God and His children as best we can.

Do we make time for worldly things or for heavenly ones? Are we possessed by our possessions or can we walk away from them? Are we willing to lose our lives through sacrifices of love and mercy?

O Lord, give us the strength to let go of everything that is keeping us away from you.

Amen.