19 October 2011

19 Oct 2011, Memorial of Saint John de Brébeuf and Saint Isaac Jogues, priests and martyrs, and their companions, martyrs

Reading 1 Rom 6:12-18

Brothers and sisters:
Sin must not reign over your mortal bodies
so that you obey their desires.
And do not present the parts of your bodies to sin
as weapons for wickedness,
but present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life
and the parts of your bodies to God
as weapons for righteousness.
For sin is not to have any power over you,
since you are not under the law but under grace.

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law
but under grace? 
Of course not!
Do you not know that if you present yourselves
to someone as obedient slaves,
you are slaves of the one you obey,
either of sin, which leads to death,
or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
But thanks be to God that, although you were once slaves of sin,
you have become obedient from the heart
to the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted.
Freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 124:1b-3, 4-6, 7-8

R. (8a) Our help is in the name of the Lord.
Had not the LORD been with us,
let Israel say, had not the LORD been with us?
When men rose up against us,
then would they have swallowed us alive;
When their fury was inflamed against us.
R. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
Then would the waters have overwhelmed us;
The torrent would have swept over us;
over us then would have swept the raging waters.
Blessed be the LORD, who did not leave us
a prey to their teeth.
R. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
We were rescued like a bird
from the fowlers? snare;
Broken was the snare,
and we were freed.
Our help is in the name of the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
R. Our help is in the name of the Lord.

Gospel Lk 12:39-48

Jesus said to his disciples:
"Be sure of this:
if the master of the house had known the hour
when the thief was coming,
he would not have let his house be broken into.
You also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come."

Then Peter said,
"Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?"
And the Lord replied,
"Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward
whom the master will put in charge of his servants
to distribute the food allowance at the proper time?
Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so.
Truly, I say to you, he will put him
in charge of all his property.
But if that servant says to himself,
"My master is delayed in coming,"
and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants,
to eat and drink and get drunk,
then that servant's master will come
on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour
and will punish the servant severely
and assign him a place with the unfaithful.
That servant who knew his master's will
but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will
shall be beaten severely;
and the servant who was ignorant of his master's will
but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating
shall be beaten only lightly.
Much will be required of the person entrusted with much,
and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more."


Meditation: Luke 12:39-48

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“You also must be prepared.” (Luke 12:40)

Many of us think of this parable in terms of the word “final.” We picture the final hour when Jesus will come back to judge the world. Once that hour comes, we’ll have no more time to get ready. Or we imagine him coming in our final hour, when we will give him an account of our lives. It’s rather sobering to realize that there will be a time when we will stand before the Lord, warts and all, and endure his piercing gaze. How can we ever prepare for such a day?

The answer is that Jesus himself prepares us, by coming to us over and over again during our lives. Think of the many unexpected events, good and bad, that can happen to you: You rush to the hospital because your wife is ready to deliver your first child. You get a call in the middle of the night because a loved one is dying. You get a promotion out of nowhere—or you are told to clean out your desk. In all of these situations, Jesus is with you, saying: “Here I am. Are you ready for me?”

To get ready for Jesus’ return means to welcome him into our hearts at every opportunity. It means looking at every situation through the eyes of faith, trying our best to find Jesus’ presence and his will. It means assessing every circumstance in our lives according to the commands and promises of the gospel. In short, it means living with our eyes fixed on heaven as we go about our lives here on earth.

God wants to open your eyes today. He wants to give you a heavenly perspective. Let him expand your vision so that you can see his hand in every situation, and so that you can surrender your life to him more fully. Take a few moments right now, and ask the Holy Spirit to open heaven for you. That’s the best way to get ready for the final day when heaven comes to earth—and when we creatures of earth are lifted up to heaven.

“Lord, I want to be ready for your return. Help me to give up anything that is not of you. Make me a pure vessel so that I can live for your glory alone.”

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