THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 2010 - TWENTY-FIRST WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME
Paul, called to be an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, to the Church of God that is in Corinth, to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I give thanks to my God always on
your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, that in him
you were enriched in every way, with all discourse and all knowledge, as the
testimony to Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any
spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will
keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful, and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord.
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MATTHEW 24:42-51
Jesus said to his disciples: “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 servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so. Amen, I say to you, he will 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.”
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Stay awake! Today it is so easy to become distracted, to lose sight of our goal of eternal life. So many things demand our attention. All the gadgets and innovations that were supposed to give us more leisure time have only made us more busy, more frantic. Jesus warns us to stay awake! Keep focused on the Kingdom. You don't know when the time will be up. You don't know the hour of our own "end of time."
"But we are just so busy. We don't have time to pray." I have heard this excuse many times. It usually is followed by, "My life is my prayer." Hogwash! Our life cannot be our prayer without praying constantly. If we are too busy to pray we are simply too busy. If we never listen to God in the silence of our hearts, how can we know we are doing his will We cannot stay awake if we don't rest in the Spirit regularly. If we want to heed the warning of Jesus to stay awake we have to spend time in quiet prayer every day. If we don't want to get lost by going in the wrong direction, even one that seems headed toward the Kingdom, we have to spend some time regularly in extended prayer time; a retreat, if only for a day.
If we talk to the Master each day, we will not be surprised by His sudden return.
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Lord God, help me to stay awake and ready for your return. May I never become too busy to spend time with you.
Deacon Ed