Gospel MT 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.”
Reflection:
“So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
There is a great humanness in today’s parable.
Every parent has most likely walked into the house earlier than expected only to find their children involved in mischief, making you think of the old adage; “When the cats away the mouse will play.”
The next time the parent leaves, the child asks, “What time will you be home?” The parent answers, “I’m not quite sure, but feed your little brother and do your homework before I get back.”
“Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so.” The child who responds well to responsibility is a joy and blessing to their parent.
The human tendency however, is to fool ourselves into thinking we’re never going to get caught doing something wrong.
But with God, it’s not a matter of His “getting home early.” God is always “on the job” and He sees all things.
Like most people, I too am guilty of wrongdoing.
Hopefully, if my sorrow and desire to start over is sincere, I will not be “severely” punished and assigned “a place with the hypocrites.”
I pray not for justice, but for mercy.
“It is mercy, not justice or courage or even heroism, that alone can defeat evil.” Peter Kreeft, The Philosophy of Tolkien