As the liturgical year draws to a close today, reflect on the fact that God is calling you to become fully awake

"Be careful that your hearts don't get sleepy from the revelry, drunkenness and anxieties of daily life, and that day they catch you by surprise like a trap." Luke 21: 34-35a

This is the last day of our liturgical year! And on this day, the gospel reminds us how easy it is to become lazy in our life of faith. It reminds us that our hearts can become sleepy due to "revelry and drunkenness and the anxieties of everyday life". Let's take a look at these temptations.

First, we are warned against partying and drunkenness. This certainly holds true on a literal level, which means that we should obviously avoid abusing drugs and alcohol. But it also applies to numerous other ways in which we get "sleepy" due to a lack of temperance. Alcohol abuse is just one way to escape the burdens of life, but there are many ways we can do it. Whenever we give in to an excess of one kind or another, we begin to let our hearts become sleepy spiritually. Whenever we seek momentary escapes from life without turning to God, we allow ourselves to become spiritually sleepy.

Second, this passage identifies "the anxieties of everyday life" as a source of sleepiness. So often we face anxiety in life. We can feel overwhelmed and excessively burdened by one thing or another. When we feel oppressed by life, we tend to look for a way out. And too often, the "way out" is something that makes us spiritually drowsy.

Jesus speaks this gospel as a way to challenge us to stay awake and watchful in our life of faith. This happens when we hold the truth in our minds and hearts and our eyes in God's will. The moment we turn our eyes to the burdens of life and fail to see God in the midst of all things, we become spiritually sleepy and begin , in a sense, to fall asleep.

As the liturgical year draws to a close today, reflect on the fact that God is calling you to become fully awake. He wants your full attention and he wants you completely sober in your life of faith. Set your eyes on Him and let Him continually keep you prepared for His imminent return.

Lord, I love you and want to love you even more. Help me stay wide awake in my life of faith. Help me keep my eyes on you in all things so that I am always prepared for you when you come to me. Jesus I believe in you.