ARE WE STILL AWAKE?
The day will come when the impassioned history of humanity will end, as inevitably ends the life of every one of us. The Gospels put a discourse in Jesus’ mouth concerning this end, and they always include an exhortation: «keep vigil», «be alert», «keep awake». The first Christian generations gave great importance to this vigilance. The end of the world wouldn’t arrive as soon as some thought. They sensed the danger of forgetting Jesus little by little, and they didn’t want him to one day find them «asleep».
Many centuries have passed since then. How are we Christians doing today? Are we still awake, or have we been gradually falling asleep? Do we go about drawn by Jesus, or are we distracted by all kinds of secondary questions? Are we following him, or have we learned to live just like everyone else?
To keep watch is above all to awaken from unconsciousness. We live a «dream» of being Christian when all too often in reality our interests, attitudes, and lifestyle aren’t those of Jesus. This «dream» protects us from seeking our personal conversion and that of the Church. If we don’t «wake up», we’ll keep on deluding ourselves.
To keep watch is to be attentive to reality. To listen to the groaning of those who suffer. To feel God’s love for life. To go about more attentive to God’s mysterious presence in our midst. Without this sensibility it’s not possible to follow in Jesus’ footsteps.
We sometimes go about immune to the Gospel’s call. We have a heart, but it’s gotten hardened; we have ears, but they don’t hear what Jesus heard; we have eyes, but we don’t see what he saw, nor do we look at people the way he did. It can then happen what Jesus wanted to avoid among his followers: to see them as «blind leading the blind».
If we don’t wake up, it could happen to all of us what happened to those in the parable who still at the end of time were asking: «Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and we didn’t come to your aid?»
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
