Posted by The WORD in other words (2006) by Frater Loreto Estomo SVD – Divine Word College of Vigan
Friday 32nd Week in Ordinary Time
Once, the great Roman Empire was one of the most powerful empires on earth. Yet even that great empire eventually disintegrated and fell. What were the causes? A list popularly attributed to the historian Edward Gibbon, author of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, gives five reasons:
- The rapid increase in divorce and the undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the foundation of human society.
- Higher and higher taxes and the excessive spending of public money.
- The mad craze for pleasure, with sports becoming increasingly exciting, bloody, and brutal.
- The building of gigantic armaments while the real enemy was within: the decadence of the people.
- The decay of religion, which faded into mere form, lost touch with life, and became powerless to warn and guide the people.
Does this sound familiar? The situation recalls not only our own times but also the days before Noah entered the ark and the days of Lot. Jesus says in today’s Gospel: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man” (Luke 17:26). He then recalls the days of Lot, when people were “eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building” (Luke 17:28).
In the same Gospel, Jesus provides us with a guideline for the preservation of life, the family, and society as a whole: “Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it” (Luke 17:33).
Sharing life and love with one another is the lifeblood of society. It is through dying to oneself for the sake of others that the social fabric is strengthened and its endurance safeguarded. This recalls Jesus’ words elsewhere: “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life” (John 12:25).
The opposite gradually leads to destruction: greed, selfishness, and the vainglorious pampering of the self. Instead of fearing the coming of the Son of Man as the final blow to humanity, today’s Gospel invites us to prepare for it through a life of self-giving, remembering the warning of Jesus: “Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it” (Luke 17:33).
