13 November 2026 · Latin Rite
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“Remember Lot's wife. Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it.” Luke 17:32–33
Jesus compares the day of the Son of Man to the days of Noah and of Lot. People were eating, drinking, marrying, buying, selling, planting, building, all ordinary and good things, until the flood came or fire fell. Their sin was not ordinary life; it was living as if God did not exist. Then the strange command: “Remember Lot's wife.” She was rescued from Sodom but looked back, longing for what she was leaving, and was lost. Jesus asks for an undivided heart.
The Second Letter of John, written to “the elect lady and her children” (probably a local church), joins truth and love: “this is love, that we walk according to his commandments”. Some had gone “beyond” the teaching of Christ, denying that he came in the flesh. John's answer is to abide: “Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God.” Faithfulness, not novelty, keeps us ready.
Theme: “Do not look back.”
Be ready: not living as if God did not exist, not looking back, abiding in truth and love.
“Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.” Genesis 6:22
“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them.” Luke 17:26–27
Apply: Bring God into one ordinary task today.
“But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” Genesis 19:26
“Remember Lot's wife. Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it.” Luke 17:32–33
Apply: Renounce one thing you still look back at.
“Happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD.” Psalm 119:1
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” John 15:12
Apply: Read one paragraph of the Catechism daily.
An undivided heart is ready for the Lord.
Look forward to him, not back.
Take-home resolution: Make a daily examen this week before sleep.
Dear friends, Jesus compares the day of the Son of Man to the days of Noah and of Lot. People were eating and drinking, marrying, buying and selling, planting and building, until the flood came or fire fell (Luke 17:26–29). None of these things is wrong. Their sin was living as if God did not exist.
Then a strange command: remember Lot's wife (Luke 17:32). She was rescued from Sodom but looked back, longing for what she was leaving, and was lost. Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses it will keep it.
St John, in his second letter, gives the simple rule for these days: walk in truth and in love, according to the commandment we have had from the beginning, that we love one another (2 John 4–6). Readiness is not anxiety; it is faithfulness in ordinary days.
So let us make a short examen each night this week before sleep: where was God today, where did I forget him, what will I do better tomorrow? Then the day of the Lord will find us looking forward, not back. Amen.
Children, Noah was ready when the rain came because he listened to God. Before you sleep tonight, say: thank you, sorry, and please help me tomorrow.
Lord Jesus, keep me ready for your coming. Do not let me live as if you did not exist, nor look back at what I have left for you. Help me to walk in truth and love and to abide in your teaching. Amen.
The Elder warns a Church against teachers who deny that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Jesus warns his disciples that the day of the Son of Man will come suddenly, as in the days of Noah and Lot. Both readings ask us to stay with what is true and not to cling to what is passing.
Setting.
The second and third letters of John are the two shortest books of the New Testament. The writer calls himself “the elder”. He writes to “the elect lady and her children” (v. 1), most likely a local Church and its members. Some had left the community and were teaching a false idea of Christ (compare 1 John 2:19).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments” (1:6)
Love and obedience are not two things. To love is to walk in his commandments, and his commandment is to love.
“whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.” (1:9)
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism notes that the first heresies denied not so much Christ’s divinity as his true humanity, against which the Church insisted that the Son of God came in the flesh (CCC 465). The Incarnation is the ground of our faith in the sacraments, where Christ still reaches us through bodily signs.
Setting.
Jesus continues his teaching on the day of the Son of Man (17:22–37). He draws on two stories from Genesis: the flood (Genesis 6–8) and the destruction of Sodom (Genesis 19).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Remember Lot’s wife.” (17:32)
She looked back at the burning city and became a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26). Her heart stayed with what she was leaving.
“Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it.” (17:33)
How the Church reads it.
Eating, drinking, marrying and building are not sins. The danger is to live as if they were everything. The Catechism teaches that the Last Judgment will come when Christ returns in glory, and that only the Father knows the day and the hour (CCC 1040). The answer to that uncertainty is not fear but readiness.
Does Luke 17:34–35 teach a secret “rapture”?
No. Jesus is describing the suddenness of his coming, which will separate people who seem alike outwardly. The Church teaches one glorious coming of Christ at the end (CCC 1038–1040).