Message of Abbot Paul - Thursday 26th August
Message from Fr Paul for Thursday, 26th August 2021
As you know, the format our Weekday Mass Lectionary now takes is to read the three synoptic Gospels in turn, Mark first, then Matthew and finally Luke, while John is the Gospel of preference for Lent and Eastertide. Next Monday we will begin our reading of Luke, so until Saturday we will be reading the last three passages from Matthew that lead us up to the Passion Narrative, passages that speak of the end of the world and about judgement. When we speak about the end of the world, there is also that personal end which each one of us will face when the Lord calls us to himself at the hour of death. Jesus often said, “You do not know the day or the hour. In Matthew 24: 42-51, today’s Gospel, we hear two short parables. Let’s read the first.
“Stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming. You may be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known at what time of the night the burglar would come, he would have stayed awake and would not have allowed anyone to break through the wall of his house. Therefore, you too must stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” This is one of the simplest of all parables to understand. The message is clear: stay awake, be prepared, for the Lord will come like a thief in the night. Although this is a message that we read a great deal about towards the end of the Liturgical Year and at the beginning of Advent, it’s valid on any day of the year, for we don’t know when the Lord will come, calling us to pass through death’s gate. I’ve always enjoyed how Jesus often portrays himself as the baddie in the story, here the burglar rather than the householder.
The second parable is similar but with a different emphasis, the use of time between now and the end. What use are making of the precious time that God has given us? It’s also a call to charity and justice, on the way we treat others. Let’s hear what Jesus said to his disciples and today says to us.
“What sort of servant, then, is faithful and wise enough for the master to place him over his household to give them their food at the proper time? Happy that servant if his master’s arrival finds him at this employment. I tell you solemnly, he will place him over everything he owns. But as for the dishonest servant who says to himself, “My master is taking his time,” and sets about beating his fellow servants and eating and drinking with drunkards, his master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. The master will cut him off and send him to the same fate as the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.” Although these parables look forward to the return of Jesus at the end of time, and who but God knows when that will be, essentially for us today, they are an invitation to put our lives right with God and with our neighbour, so that we will be ready and prepared when the Lord passes by and calls us to himself, and only God knows when that will be. There will be nothing to fear when the time comes, for God only wants what is best for us, now and for all eternity.
