Unintended Consequences
“Oh, if only I hadn’t said (or done) that!” The consequences of what we do linger. We can’t unring the bell.
God does not undo what we have done, but be can and does make everything in our lives a step toward holiness if we let Him. Every moment gives us another opportunity to grow in holiness. And the choices we make now will determine our eternal destiny.
God wants all of us to be saints. Let’s not miss the opportunity.
written by Laura Weston, widow of Deacon Michael
IF YOU LIKE, READ ALONG WHILE YOU ARE LISTENING:
The Church is getting us ready for Advent, a penitential season, and bringing to mind Last Things. If I were to walk in here, I’ve got…that would be awfully heavy… I've got 10 million dollars worth of diamonds in my hands, and I go to Mayve and say, "Here they are. There is only one limitation. You cannot... and I'll tell you what it is... you can't do it." And Mayve goes, "But that's my favorite thing! You're going to make me lose all this great gift that you gave me if I do my favorite thing?!"
And God comes to us and says, "Here's the deal. I'm going to give my Son. He's going to suffer. He's going to die. And there's going to be a resurrection. All I want you to do, it's real simple, is follow Him. Do what He says."
But one thing he doesn't tell us; I didn't tell Mayve: I didn't put a time limit on it; He didn't put a time limit on it.
And it's so easy in our lives, in thinking of how important that we are, we go, "Well..." and God recognizes this, you know, "...if I just do this, it's not that big of a deal. It's really not that important. And besides which, I can go to Confession. And, it just not a big deal."
It is a big deal, because we don't know when the time is coming when there will be judgement. God's making it easy for us. He says, "I'll give you something real simple to do. Love Me; love your neighbor. Can't get any simpler than that! And I know you're inadequate, so I'll give you the Blood and Body of my Son. I'll give you Confession. I'll give you the sacraments. I'll give you the Holy Catholic Church. I'll give you people telling you, 'Be good. Don't do this. Don't do it.'"
“But it's so easy and it's so nice. Just think of what it would be: so nice. Oh, the thing that I would want to do!"
And the Church is bring to us, one: we don't know the time when we're going to die; and two: we don't know the end of time. As they said in the Alleluia, "Remain faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life."
That's all it takes. But... it's the thing of unintended consequences that I'm talking about.
When I was seventeen years old... actually why don't we make it more real... when I was nineteen years old, not Protestant, not anything, not practicing anything, full of myself, away from home for the first time in my life, just, you know, "Hey, I am great, I've got it!", and I meet this short little Mexican woman. And what happens? Forty-seven years later, I'm old. I'm married to a beautiful woman. I'm a deacon in the Catholic Church. I've changed my life totally. I'm a different person. I try and strive to be good. Believe me, at eighteen, nineteen years old and I first saw Laura, I just said, "Whoa, that is a good looking woman!" Got to know her and "Oh, that is really a nice woman!" I wasn't going, "And she's going to be key to changing me so that I'm going to be a totally different person." Unintended consequences. That was a good one.
But at the same time, when we look at what we do in our lives, "It's not such a big deal. If I just do this... it really isn't a big deal." It can be!
And since we don't know the time when Jesus is coming, we don't know the time that we are going to die, the unintended consequences of living our lives contrary to what we have been commanded by Jesus Christ can be severe.
In the first reading we have Him coming in. He was reaping the people who are going to spend all eternity with Him in heaven. And then He reaps the others. They get stomped on, they get burned, they get sent to Hell.
And as Jesus tells us: we don't know. Two thousand years people are going, “The end in coming! The end is coming! Look at all the consequences of the things that Jesus is talking about! Wars! People against people! Earthquakes! Famines! Plagues!" Welcome to the 21st century world. Except I think we've added in global warming and forest fires and a few other things like that. Volcanoes. But you can't perceive the sign because we don't know.
And the key is that we are being told that since we don't know, is avoid the unintended consequences of acting contrary to the teachings of Christ. Because we don't know.
And the consequences of those can be severe. It hurts, it just pains me when I see this happen. A young man especially, sixteen, seventeen years old, "Hey, I'm full of myself. I'm going to do all these things. It won't hurt that much if I go out with my friends and do something." And they get arrested. If they are eighteen they go to prison. And guess what! They are going to have a hard time getting a job for the rest of their lives. They are going to be poor. They are going to be unhappy.
But that wasn't their intention when they went out to do it. It's unintended consequences. How do we avoid the unintended consequences? Look and listen to what you are told in this Church. Follow the commandments of Christ, of loving God and loving neighbor, because we don't know when the end is coming.
November 27, 2018 2