The ‘Path of Totality’: a preview of the Second Coming?

As I write this post from my home on the West Coast, I am watching national television coverage of the total solar eclipse. Here, we experienced only a partial eclipse (about 50 percent, according to the Orange County Register), so not much changed. The world looked pretty much the same to us.

But now, as I watch the “path of totality” progress from the state of Texas, northeast across America toward Maine, millions of people are witnessing a zone of totality – when total darkness overtakes daylight for just a few moments, courtesy of our Creator.

What strikes me, as I watch each region experience this total solar eclipse, is the way the seasoned reporters and news anchors, who are trained to be unemotional in their reporting, are overcome as they cover the phenomenon. The overwhelming sentiment expressed is that the moment itself is not only spectacular, but in this rare, happy experience that humanity is sharing, there is real, heartfelt joy.

NBC reporter Kate Snow (@tvkatesnow) , reporting from Houlton, Maine, saying, “I feel it in my chest.”

I continue to be drawn in to what I am seeing on my screen. Some onlookers, amid tears, are reporting that they feel their deceased loved one’s presence as they gaze upward in the darkness. People are all looking toward the sky with genuine awe. It is quiet. It is spiritual. I can feel all of this, even though I am not among the masses watching in person.

Perhaps this was what was felt during the Miracle of the Sun, when Our Lady of Fatima made the sun dance for some 70,000 onlookers below.

I can’t help but wonder if this is a small preview of what the Second Coming of Christ will be like. Everyone looking up, filled with joy. I think people are being touched, for at least a few minutes, by this eclipse. And how can they not be thinking about God – all at the same time.

What a moment.

Fittingly, today’s gospel reading from Lk 1:26-38 is about the Annunciation of the Lord.

The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”
But Mary said to the angel,
“How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?”
And the angel said to her in reply,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God.”
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her.

– Lk 1:26-38

What will we see and feel, I wonder, when Christ returns. This, from the Book of Revelation, describes what to expect.

BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him …

– Revelation 1:7

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