26th August, 2021
THE FAITHFUL SERVANTS. ..... “So be alert”
1 Thessalonians 4:9-11
Psalms 98:1, 7-8, 9
Matthew 25:14-30
Today, the evangelic text speaks of the uncertainty of the moment when the Lord will come: «You do not know on what day your Lord will come» (Mt 24:42). If we want him to find us on the alert when He comes, we cannot get absent‐minded or asleep: we have to be always alert. Jesus gives many instances of this vigil: the owner who stays awake to prevent his house to be broken into by a thief, the servant who wants to please his master... Today, maybe He would refer instead to a goalkeeper who does not know when, or where from, the ball will shoot at him...
But, maybe, we should first clarify which coming is He talking about. Is He referring to our death? is He talking about the end of the world? Both are certainly comings of the Lord He has expressly left out uncertain to provoke a constant attention on us. But, going by an estimate of probabilities, perhaps none of our generation will bear witness of a universal cataclysm that means the end of human life in this planet. And, insofar as death is concerned, this will be only once and that will be it. But, while this moment does not arrive, is there any other closer coming before which we are to be always on our guard?
«How years go by! Months are reduced to weeks, weeks to days, days to hours, hours to seconds...» (St. Francis de Sales). Every day, every hour, every instant in our life, the Lord is close to us. Through internal inspirations, through the persons around us, through the events that are happening and, as the Apocalypse says: «Behold, I am standing at the door, and I am knocking: if any one hears my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me» (Rev 3:20). Today, if we take the communion, the same think will happen. Today, if we patiently listen to the problems someone else may be telling us about or if we generously give our money to help the needy, the same thing will happen again. And, if in our personal prayer, today, we —suddenly— receive an unexpected inspiration, the same thing will happen again.
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