THE WORD
1 Cor 1,1-9 / Mt 24,42-51
Jesus said to his disciples, “Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.
“Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household to distribute to them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that put him in charge of all his property. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is long delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with drunkards, the servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.
IN OTHER WORDS
A retired engineer, Harold Camping, predicted May 21, 2011 as the end of the world. Some took it seriously and anxiously; some were skeptical. Mr. Camping later on confessed to having miscalculated it and moved the date to October 21 of the same year. Such predictions sow fear in anyone who is gullible enough to believe these so-called doomsday prophets.
Jesus says it very differently. Rather than striking fear in his listeners’ hearts then (and to us today), he posed a challenge. He poses the same challenge to us to be ready (“Stay awake!”) because we do not know when the end will come. Readiness may take on different forms. But being ready always would mean that right here right now, one is making best eff orts to put order in his/her life.
This may mean making eff orts to be reconciled with those one is not in good terms with. It means letting go of many material things that are unnecessary in one’s life and are cluttering up what could be a simple and uncomplicated life. It could mean moves towards conversion and a change of heart and resolute eff orts to leave one’s sinful past and trust in God’s help towards leading a life of love and compassion for others. Whatever form our preparations may take, we have to take the Lord’s challenge seriously for, after all, no one knows when his/her end would come.
- Fr. Samuel Agcaracar, SVD | Rome, Italy
The Word in other words 2016
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
