“Then if any man shall say to you: ‘Lo here is Christ,’ or ‘there,’ do not believe him. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. Behold I have told it to you, beforehand. If therefore they shall say to you: ‘Behold he is in the desert,’ go ye not out: ‘Behold he is in the closets,’ believe it not. For as lightning cometh out of the east, and appeareth even into the west: so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Whereseover the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together.”
Where Jesus came in lowliness and littleness in His first coming, that the loving hand of God may not be one to be feared, but held: “Thou hast held me by my right hand” (Psalm 72:24), His second coming will not be in such lowliness. However, with the many maladies that the world suffers, some will offer aid to those who are discouraged or clinging to the things of earth, drawing them from the truth and into their own machinations: “Have confidence in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not upon thy own prudence” (Proverbs 3:5). Though the wicked may do greater deeds, even to the point of miraculous work, they are not seen as greater in the eyes of God, for it is a love that works by justice that is truly God’s work: “And the magicians with their enchantments practiced in like manner… and they could not… And the magicians said to Pharao: ‘This is the finger of God’” (Exodus 8:18-19). To aim for gifts is good, Theophila, but the greatest is a wondrous love: “Be zealous for the better gifts. And I shew unto you a yet more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31), and while the working of miracles or a grand ministry may be of great benefit to the Church, nothing is as beneficial as the one who truly, deeply, and totally loves their Savior, thinking on Him night and day, and doing all from an abundance of love for Him: “Who is this that cometh up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved?” (Canticle 8:5). You don’t need to look for Him in work, people, techniques, or waiting for an audible voice to talk to you, but simply picture Him before you and talk with Him, for Jesus is in your heart, there He has made His dwelling: “If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him” (John 14:23), and it is there you can commune with Him, calling Him to mind and letting Him lead the way to the depths of His love: “Even there also shall thy hand lead me: and thy right hand shall hold me” (Psalm 138:10). Now, the knowledge, persuasion, and great deeds of some will lead away even those who cultivate spiritual wisdom, like what happened to Thomas Merton, and thus Jesus says that even the elect, if possible, are in danger, which is a hyperbolical statement to show how narrow the road is, and how crafty one’s enemies are: “O full of all guile, and of all deceit, child of the devil, enemy of all justice, thou ceastest not to pervert the right ways of the Lord” (Acts 13:10). It could also be that the armies of Satan ride against the lovers of God, assailing the one that desires Him with fearful thoughts, with the one not grounded in love being brought low, but the one that does love emerging stronger and fortified, lauded for their faithfulness: “Wait on God with patience: join thyself to God, and endure, that thy life may be increased in the latter end” (Ecclesiasticus 2:3). Thus, it is not those that are truly called by God that will be subjected to the enemy’s hand, but those that seemed deeply spiritual will be led into error, such as the mistake of silencing oneself rather than cultivating a relationship of love with God. Jesus says then that He tells you beforehand to watch for these snares; be extremely careful with whom you take counsel, Theophila, and who you choose to be the guardian of your soul: “Be in peace with many, but let one of a thousand be thy counsellor” (Ecclesiasticus 6:6), for a spiritual and learned guide is a necessary and rare gem: “Lord we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?” (John 14:5), but many are those that have built a false spirituality and will drag down their pupils with them: “Be ye not many masters, my brethren, knowing that you receive the greater judgment” (James 3:1). Your heart and your mind are precious treasures, and they deserve someone that is caring, experienced, in love with God, and knowledgeable to shape the gem that you are in the way that best suits it. To proclaim that Christ is in the desert is that He is outside the established city of God, which is the Catholic Church, and to say He is in a hidden chamber is to try to seek out a type of hidden knowledge, rooting around in private revelation and apocryphal literature, rather than letting the sweet words of Scripture be the delight of your heart: “The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails deeply fastened in, which by the counsel of masters are given from one shepherd. More than these, my son, require not” (Ecclesiastes 12:11-12). To return to the second coming, it will be like lightning, with no herald, and illuminating all, and drawing in turn those that know the voice of love with which He speaks with eager joy: “I am the good shepherd; and I know mine, and mine know me” (John 10:14). When He says that the eagles gather where the body is, this is because they can follow the scent of a body for miles, and are creatures without reason. It is then a call for you to use your mind and heart to follow His fragrance, seeing where His footsteps have fallen, that you may go after Him, goaded by His beauty rather than by the rod of correction: “And I took not me two rods, one I called Beauty, and the other I called a Cord, and I fed the flock” (Zacharias 11:7). It is a call to gather around His passion, flying high in the air of spiritual love, and looking at your Beloved dying on a cross purely because He loves you. Or, in leaving the sense of a cadaver, it can be a frequent meditation on the humanity of Jesus, for you will never outgrow thinking of your Beloved, and to get to know Him in His earthly life then draws you deeper into being struck by the passion and rejoicing in His resurrection: “Abide in my love” (John 15:9). Now, from a broad perspective, lies are of one type, but take many different shapes, therefore, many will proclaim Christ but be detached either from His love or the truth, thereby becoming false prophets. To go into the desert is to wander in the dryness of philosophy; while it is necessary for some, to let the excitement for philosophy overshadow one’s love of Scripture is to think the things on which the sun shines are greater than the sun itself: “For the Jews require signs, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumblingblock, and unto the Gentiles foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1:22-23). To build a spirituality not built on the fervent, joyful, assiduous reading and meditation on sacred scripture is to look for Him in a hidden chamber, for He reveals Himself in His words, not in visions, states of being, audible voices, or profound signs, and to abandon the scriptures in favor of desiring these things is to look in hidden chambers. Now, the Catholic Church spans the whole world, and the greatest thinkers and lovers to ever live are within her walls, her teaching clear and radiant as lightning, therefore, to understand the beauty of her dogmatic truths and then playfully run within the scriptures in accord with her precepts is to truly enjoy them, letting them be your refreshment and your sanctuary: “Uphold me according to they word, and I shall live: and let me not be confounded in my expectation” (Psalm 118:116). Or, from the east is the dawn of creation laid out in Genesis: “In the beginning God created heaven, and earth” (Genesis 1:1), the west is the setting of the sun on this same creation: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth was gone, and the sea is now no more” (Apocalypse 21:1), with all that is between being the love story between God and His people, all that is written in the Scriptures being a love letter from God to you, and all things in nature being images of His beauty, that you may encounter Him often and deeply: “Indeed the Lord is in his place, and I knew it not” (Genesis 28:16).