Luke 17:28-30. "Likewise as it was in the days of Lot - they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom fire and brimstone rained from heaven and destroyed them all - so will it be on the day when the Son of man is revealed." Today's second reading at Mass, 2 Peter 3:8-14, is along these same lines. There, Peter warns that the day of the Lord "will come like a thief"; "the elements will be dissolved by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be found out." Peter assures us, though, that God has patience with us, and is forbearing so that more will come to repentance.

Both of these passages are talking about Jesus' Second Coming, something we are encouraged to think about and prepare for during Advent (a good idea, since, even if we don't live to experience the Second Coming, we will all, living or dead, experience it when it happens, and we each will experience our own particular judgment the day we die). Lately, and understandably, there's been much talk about the Second Coming having to be imminent. (I think it was Billy Graham who said that if God doesn't bring judgment, at least on America, soon, He will owe Sodom and Gomorrah an apology!) But in his letter, Peter reminds us that God does not delay. His time is His time, and any "delay" we perceive is so that more souls can be saved. I take great comfort in that. If the suffering and angst we have all been going through are the price of saving even one soul for eternity, it is certainly worth it!

Getting back to Luke, though, Jesus says it will seem like business as usual to most up until the day He comes. Immediately preceding this verse, Jesus mentions Noah and how the people of his time were doing the same - eating, drinking, and marrying, right up to the day of the flood. Paul says something similar in his letter to the Thessalonians when he says "When people say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as travail comes upon a woman with child, and there will be no escape." (1 Thessalonians 5:3). Back in 2021, I wrote that, as bad as it seemed during the worldwide COVID overreaction, at least we were not saying "peace and security", so that had to mean the end times were not imminent. We were prevented, then, from doing all of the things Jesus mentions with any sense of normalcy, and no one felt at ease, but now we are back to doing them, and to our ease, kind of. I say "kind of" because, to me, at least, the eating, drinking, working, building, buying, selling, and all of our other "business as usual" feels like anything but lately. Everything, except prayer, has a hollow, almost meaningless quality to it - like we are performing, trying to convince ourselves and others that everything is fine when it clearly is not. I find it all very ominous and, frankly, exhausting - like I am play-acting my way through relationships and much of life; like I am living in the Truman Show. Thank goodness I do not have to do this at home or with my true friends - I have a husband and friends who understand and aren't looking for fake happiness, but real, deep, conversation and thought.

I said everything except prayer feels this way, and I meant that - prayer is the one place where I feel completely at home, at peace, and like everything really will be all right. And it will, God has a plan and He is carrying it out. His "delay" is only so that more people tire of the fake happiness and turn to Him - the source of true, complete happiness, and more are doing so every day!