Leave-taking of the Feast of the Entrance of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple; Our Holy Father and Priest-Martyr Clement, Pope of Rome (101); Peter, Bishop of Alexandria (312)
Nativity Fast.
Read
2 Thessalonians 1:1-10; Luke 12:13-15, 22-31
No matter how rich or how poor we are, how good or how challenging we find our earthly life, how beautiful or how chaotic a state of affairs is here below, it is destined to pass into nonbeing. That sunset that I enjoyed last night—that radiantly beautiful display—is now forever gone. It lasted only a while. That beautiful person—attractive, young, full of life, creative, joyful—will eventually age, get sick, break down, and die.
An image that always comes to mind when I think of these things is the gorgeous firework that bursts open like a giant flower and then, in the twinkling of an eye, is gone forever. Everything is haunted by nonbeing. Everything, finally, is a bubble.
But this is not meant to depress us; it is meant to redirect our attention precisely to the things that are “above,” to the eternity of God. Let us focus our life on Kingdom of our heavenly Father and he in his perfect knowledge will take care of our earthly needs and provide for our earthly well being.