What if God snaps His fingers and tells the world , “Freeze!”?
And the world stops.
What would we be caught doing? How would we appear “frozen”?
In that last moment, would we be caught telling a lie? Shouting at our children? Gossiping with a friend? Angry at our parents? Cheating on our spouse? Wasting time in the office? Not paying the right fare in the jeepney?
There are myriads of things that we could possibly be doing when God orders us to just stop. Surely we would want to appear good before God who sees everything.
Unfortunately, we don’t know when He’d come to do this.
I could be exaggerating when I say God would order the world to stop.
But in faith, I know that one day Jesus, the Son of God, is coming back. It has been prophesied from the time He ascended into Heaven while His disciples gazed at Him.
“This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)
Still we don’t want to be caught off guard. Jesus may just come in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet or while we’re asleep.
So shouldn’t we be ready?
St. Matthew has reminded us: “For this reason, you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.” (Matthew 24:44)
This is the essence of Lent — to purify our hearts, to admonish us to repent and change our ways, to make our souls such that when the Lord comes, He can see us worthy to go with Him to heaven.
On Good Friday, we shall relive the passion of the Christ. To honor His great sacrifice, we should have already gone to confession, did acts of charity and fasted.
Yet, the best act that we can do is to transform ourselves to be the persons that God wants us to be. He would want to see us in His image and likeness, just the way we were when He created us.
And this best act should be the last act when God sends His Son back to the world.
In my dreams, in my quiet moments or during the consecration of the Host, I always imagine how I will stand before the Lord when He comes again. Honestly, I am anxious. Not afraid to die but just anxious if I am worthy of heaven.
Over half of a century in age, I now observe the Lenten season in a different perspective.
Years back, Lent is simply being sorrowful and repentant for my sins.
Today, I feel the rush in my adrenalin because I believe that after Lent is Resurrection and this signals the coming of Jesus again to “separate the sheep from the goats”.
Will I be the ready sheep?
Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane sweated blood while He, in full anguish and distress, asked God the Father to “take this cup away from me. He knew He was to be arrested. He knew that His death will be on the cross. He knew what was to come and He was in extreme pain and distress that He did sweat blood.
In the end, He surrendered to the will of the Father. When the soldiers came, Jesus was caught praying. Then He was ready. He was to be the ready Sheep.
The soldiers seemed to be in the “frozen” stance when they saw Him.
But did they repent for what they have been ordered to do? That momentary freeze could have been their chance to convert to God.
Then Simon Peter drew a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest’s slave. “But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.” (Luke 22:51)
Seeing his ear back into place was the frozen moment for Malchus. Whether this was his conversion moment, I don’t really know. But it was his good chance.
Personally, I don’t now if my last act would be worthy for God. I don’t know if I would be caught doing good when the Lord comes. If I am writing this column and
He comes, well and good. I am writing about Him!
Then again, I don’t know if this work is acceptable to Him. I am a sinner and imperfect. I still work hard to gain the merits of heaven.
We don’t have the measure. Only God knows if our last act is the best act for him.
But what I do know (and I am trying to consistently do this) is to give thanks to God in all that I do. This will always remind me to do only what Jesus would do because how could I thank God for something bad I do?
“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:17)
May this Holy Week brings us to full conversion to God. May we all reflect and seek God’s grace to do only what is holy and good.
May each deed we do be the best we can do. It could be our last act. So we just have to be ready.
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