Not knowing

 ‘… Be on guard! Be alert’ (Mark 13:33)

Mark 13:33-37 (Year B: Advent 1)

#tothesources

                                                        Pic: julieamarxhausen.wordpress.com

I remember the summer of 1984. It was generally warm and dry in this part of the world. An unusual sort of Irish summer. Back then, nobody (certainly not me) would have been able to imagine the world as it would be 30 years later in 2014. A peace process in Northern Ireland with former enemies sharing government, a Celtic Tiger that would lift Ireland from relative international poverty and under-development, a Great Crash in 2008 that would, for a while, throw us back, the ‘fall of the wall’ in 1989 – almost without a shot being fired – the arrival of internet, email, smartphones.  Can anyone of us dare predict what the world will be like in 30 years time in 2044? One thing is sure – there will be surprises.

This time last year – the first Sunday of Advent fell on 1 December. Did you foresee all that was to happen to you personally and in your own life since then?  (A few surprises came my way including the death of my own mother). What will be your story on the first Sunday of Advent on 29^th November 2015?

In large organisations there is frequent recourse to ‘business planning’ and ‘risk register’ analysis. What could go wrong? What if this happens or that? What level of risk is present and how critical is it? What stop-gaps must be taken. 

In our own personal lives we sometimes take out insurance or assurance (if we can afford to do so).

 Life is down to risk management and analysis, so it seems.

But, in all honesty we must admit We don’t know ….

Sometimes it is not knowing that is the worst part of sickness or waiting for a health report, for example.  Not knowing what or when or how.  If we think about it, life is more full of not knowing than knowing. We don’t know what the future holds, when we will die, who will be with us and how.  We must live fully in the only reality that we know – the now and the here.

This we can do while keeping our sights on the goal of our lives. We must be, at all times, ready, alert and active because we do not know the day nor the hour.

Vigilance, care, foresight stand to us on the journey of life.  When faced with difficulties or trials of one sort or another we can hold fast to God in silence and stillness while being fully alert and mindful of what is happening around us and within us. Attentiveness to the person next to us in the present moment of life is liberating.

Saint Augustine once wrote:

‘The time present of things past is memory; the time present of things present is direct experience; the time present of things future is expectation.’ Confessions, Book 11, Chapter 20.

Each time doubt, pain and worry presses in we do well to:

Slow down

Relax (breathe in)

Listen

Look

Let go

Let God