First Sunday of Advent
"Come Holy Spirit" by Magda Love
Focus on the Present
By Laura Pittenger Jordan
For a newlywed like me, the Sunday Gospel reading seems a bit harsh.
Jesus tells his disciples that in the time of Noah, people were “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,” until a catastrophic flood destroyed the earth. The premise is that of any insurance commercial: ordinary life carries on until disaster hits, so be prepared. Here, the stakes are much higher, as the parables portend the return of Jesus and the end of the world.
My honest reaction? “Hey, I just wanted to get married. Can’t I have a minute of happiness before worrying about the end of the world? I’ve got enough anxiety!”
I don’t think it is the intention of Jesus to scare us from living full, happy lives on Earth. He is, however, asking us to pay attention and to ready ourselves for His return. But how can we possibly prepare for the end of the world, which most of us probably won’t live to see?
The answer, at least for me, is a bit contradictory: focus on the present moment.
Whenever I am consumed with anxiety about my future, ruminating on uncertainties (where we are going to live, if we will be able to have children, how we will make money), I shrink. I forget about the present. I become oblivious to my loved ones and their needs. I am dazed, lost, and alone. Add the thought, “The world will end,” and I wind up in a tailspin.
My therapist reminds me that I can slow down my ruminations by thinking instead about my values. Who am I? What virtues and principles are guiding my life? At this moment, where is my heart? What—and who—really matters most to me?
If I quiet my heart for a moment and breathe, I remember that the opportunity to love God and love others is before me, right now. The way I can prepare for the future is to listen to God right now. How can I love others and serve God today—not someday?
Fixating on the “what-ifs” of the future does not help me prepare to face it. The question is not “Will I be ready someday?” The question is “Am I ready now?”
Prepare for the future by focusing on the present. God’s love is here, now, and always. To whom can we show that love today?
Laura Pittenger Jordan is a NYC-based novelist, playwright and director, specializing in dark comedies which challenge the body, heart and soul. Her plays have been published by YouthPLAYS (“Pride and Prejudice Abridged”) and Smith & Kraus (“The Gospel of Huxley” in 105 Ten-Minute Plays for Study and Performance). Her work, including a play about Dorothy Day, has been presented at the Sheen Center for Thought and Culture, where she was a 2019 Playwriting Fellow, as well as at FringeNYC, Project Y, The Playwrights’ Center, The Tank, and KCACTF, among others. Laura was commissioned to write an Ecclesiastes-inspired surrealist play for Spark and Echo Arts and was featured in America Magazine. She is the treasurer of the Catholic Artist Connection.
Magda Love (Maria Magdalena Marcenaro) is a Catholic visual artist and muralist whose work celebrates the gift of creation as a participation in God’s divine purpose. Drawing on Marian imagery, spiritual symbolism, and the poetic beauty of her Latin American roots, she explores themes of motherhood, light, and devotion in her large-scale public art, community projects, and exhibitions.