This week gives us the Proverbs 31 wife. Buckle up, ladies! I suppose the closest scriptural parallel for husbands is in Ephesians 5.
It's very important that the passage in Ephesians, usually notable for its exhortation for wives to be "subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord," starts with this rather egalitarian exhortation: "Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ" (See Eph 5:21-33).
From this we derive Canon 1055 §1: "The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life..." Partnership, in Latin consortium, implies an equality of persons. Partners are equals.
Because I can, I want to continue reflecting on the second reading, which this week is another passage from Saint Paul's First Letter to the Thessalonians. Written around AD 50, this letter may well be the first "book" of our uniquely Christian scriptures to be written. Last week, I highlighted the eschatological essence of this letter, which is indisputably an authentically Pauline composition.
In writing that these Christians "know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night," Paul is probably reminding them of what he taught while he was with them in Thessaloniki. The phrase "the day of the Lord" is quite clearly a way to describe the parousia. Parousia, which, in Greek, refers to an arrival that results in an abiding presence, refers to Christ's glorious return.
Paul's use of the slogan "Peace and security," borrowed from Roman imperial propaganda (plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, no?), points to the destabilizing effect Christ's return. No earthly power can prevent the day of the Lord, or protect you from it. In short, the parousia is the end of the world as we know it. Does that make you feel fine?
Because Christ will come like a thief in the night, it will catch many off guard. Christians should live in joyful expectation of this. Be ready. Stay awake and alert. Have oil for your lamp. Put your talents to use for God's kingdom.
Despite the nearly 2,000 year interim, in reality, this is as true now as when the apostle wrote it. After all, in our Roman creed (i.e., Apostles Creed) as well as in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, be profess our belief that "he will come to judge the living and the dead."
Of course, as we near the end of the liturgical year, our readings, including the Gospel, urge us to live with what we might call "eschatological urgency." We are to live sub specie aeternitatis, that is, under the aspect of eternity. Pope Benedict XVI observed:
A particularly dangerous phenomenon for faith has arisen in our times: indeed a form of atheism exists which we define, precisely, as “practical”, in which the truths of faith or religious rites are not denied but are merely deemed irrelevant to daily life, detached from life, pointless. So it is that people often believe in God in a superficial manner, and live “as though God did not exist” (etsi Deus non daretur). In the end, however, this way of life proves even more destructive because it leads to indifference to faith and to the question of God (General Audience, 14 November 2012)Let our default position be to live etsi Deus daretur- as if God exists. To live as if there is an end for which you exist. To live as if you have an eternal destiny. To live out of the love God has for you.
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