STAY AWAKE AND STAND READY

XIX SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Luke 12:32-48

We are becoming a people without memory, who forgot their history, the values which guided them, the leaders that moved them forward and the routes which brought them to the present. It is as if we want to cut all the bridges with the past and become someone who hovers up in the empty sky with dreams of a new world built by sheer imagination - a world without foundation and without pillars to prop it up, floating on emptiness. 

The book of Wisdom in the first reading (Wisdom 18:6-9) and the letter to the Hebrews (Hebrews 11:1-2,8-19) in the second reading bring forward the importance of looking back and bringing to memory the great ancestors who stand out as guides and role models. With them we learn how to have a listening heart to God, being open to him and allowing him to touch our lives.

Looking to the great ancestors, we learn to have the right attitude to walk with Christ and to welcome the Kingdom of God. In this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus presents the attitudes that should mould us, for us to be ready for God’s grace, love and mercy.

1. We should be filled with trust and confidence in God because the Lord will not abandon us and he will fulfil his promises of redemption.
2. We must be single-minded about the Kingdom of God, looking forward to it and accepting it as the only treasure worthy of everything that I have and that I am.
3. We must be on the alert, with eyes wide open to recognising God’s presence and God’s actions in our midst. 
4. We must be ready, having an attitude of service and commitment, knowing that we were entrusted with God’s work. It is God’s project, not our own project.
5. That’s why we must have an attitude of dutifulness. It is our duty. There is nothing to boast about for doing what we are supposed to do.
6. Jesus warns us about the danger of abusing our position and using God’s work to promote ourselves. When we do that, we start oppressing and exploiting others. And we shall be called to account for our actions.

In a very reassuring way, Jesus tells us that, if we are found faithful, he himself will set the table for us and serve us.

Let us pray with the psalm:

“Our soul is waiting for the Lord.

  The Lord is our help and our shield.

May your love be upon us, O Lord,

  as we place all our hope in you.” (Psalm 33:22)