19th Sunday Ordinary Time, year ’C’
“See that you have your belts done up and your lamps lit. Be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he knocks. Blessed those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. In truth I tell you he will do up his belt sit them down at table and wait on them. If they be in the second watch that he returns or in the third, but blessed are those servants if he finds them ready.”
Jesus would like the Good news of his Love to reach our heart, so that we can envisage a change, a conversion as we listen l to the Word of God. He calls us to prove just how available we are by freeing us from all our worries. The Kingdom of God is given to us, and yet, we still need to desire it-the Master is waiting for us, waiting to serve us!
It is not very easy for us, in the night of faith, to be attentive, to desire for a Kingdom we do not se.
Where our treasure is, there is also our heart. The Gospel calls us to love God more, not only concerning ourselves but in relationship to Him, to others and in relationship to what seems good for us.
This deepening of love requires we lose ourselves as the centre of our own initiative, that we get out of the centre of ourselves so as to be all open to Love.
’There is no need to be afraid, little flock for it has pleased your Father to give you the Kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to those in need. Get yourselves purses that do not wear out, treasure that will not fail you, in heaven where o thief can reach it and no moth destroy it.
For wherever your treasure is, there is your heart also.
You may be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known at what time the burglar would come, he would not have let anyone break through the wall of the house. You too must stand ready, because the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect."
The servant awaiting his Master’s return has to wait for him, to know what he wants and not to do anything else during that time of waiting, even if it is for his Master.
It is this Love which is altogether a new one that we desire for. At the same time we risk abandoning him, for we are so taken up by worldly affairs!
If we consider we are here so as to receive the will of another, to respond to his expectations, we earn the happiness of being able to listen to him, to hear him reveal himself, have himself known, and we can enter into dialogue with him.
Jesus reintroduces us into the mystery of our divine filiation for we are indeed the beloved son or daughter of the Father. This treasure is hidden in the deepest part of ourselves, we need to take good care of it. The different vigils place us before the’ hour of Jesus’ Passion for us! In fact Jesus prepares the Kingdom by giving his life for us so that we may have new Life, God’s Infinite Love for us.
"Peter said ’Lord, do you mean this parable for us, or for everyone?’
The Lord replied ’Who, then, is the wise and trustworthy steward whom the master will place over his household to give them at the proper time their allowance of food? Blessed that ’servant if his master’s arrival finds him doing exactly that. I tell you truly, he will put in charge of everything that he owns. But if the servant says to himself ’My master is taking his time coming’ and sets about beating the menservants and the servant-girls, and eating and drinking and getting drunk, his master will come on a day he does not expect it and at an hour he does not know. The master will cut him off and send him to the same fate as the unfaithful.
The servant who knows what his master wants but has got nothing ready and done nothing in accord with his wishes will be given a great many strokes of the lash. The one who did not know but who has acted in such a way that he deserves a beating, will be given fewer strokes. When someone is given a great deal, a great deal will be demanded of that person; when someone sis entrusted with a great deal, of that person even more will be trusted."
Jesus invites us simply to do nothing more for someone and just enter into relationship with him, in a simple and deep attitude of listening. We are asked
to enter into a deep attitude of vigilance so as to let ourselves be led towards the other, towards Love.
The Kingdom of God is an open kingdom which leads us to work and in this way through our acts of compassion the Kingdom can be brought about.
Make purses that don’t wear out, make treasures in Heaven. For where our treasure is there will our heart also be. And so we discover new aspects of our being within ourselves and these will grow in Love more and more.