Jesus said to his disciples: "As it was in the days of Noah, It will be in the days of the Son of Man; they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.- Lk 17:26-27
Friends, God is good, all the time.
What we believe in becomes real to us. Our acts are not different from our thoughts any less than our thoughts separate from our beliefs. I today's gospel, Jesus reminds his disciples to believe that he will come again and get ready for him by the way they live.
The evangelist's language to describe the events leading to the coming of Jesus in the second part of the passage should not cause us to panic. The exoteric language used does not convey the message in the same way as expressed in the words. Luke’s intent here is more to emphasize the return of Jesus than the means of his coming.
Jesus cautions us against the sensual culture that dominated the antediluvian and later the cities of Sodom. He tells them, "As it was in the days of Noah, it will be in the days of the Son of Man; they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all." Jesus is concerned about the disregard people showed to Noah as he was building the ark and appealing to them and the underlying reason for it, which was similar to what later rendered Abraham's prayer for the cities of Sodom fruitless. When people give themselves up to sensuality in its varied forms, it gets to a point the higher culture become powerless to modify or stop it. The risk is losing the touch or religious feelings.
Jesus cautions us against letting the touch of religious feelings wane. It must always be strong in us and influence our thoughts and actions. It must lead us to greater love for him and to obey his commandments. John says in the second reading, " For this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, as you heard from the beginning, in which you should walk."
Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini's strong belief in the Catholic faith brought her to America from Italy to serve the new immigrants. She believed in protecting Catholic families' faith from exposure to non-Catholic religions and practices by starting parochial schools for Catholic children. Her dauntless faith bore fruits in the unmatched Catholic education we have in the nation. She urges us to choose God over disarray culture.