19^th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C); August 7, 2022

Wis 18:6-9.  Ps 33.  Heb 11:1-2,8-19.  Lk 12:32-48

Deacon Jim McFadden

            Many of our Gospel readings this summer have been about the Call to Discipleship.  Today’s passage notes that once we’ve made the transition from the Ego-drama (my life is about me) to the Theo-drama (God is the center of my life), then discipleship is inevitably ensues. We now have the sense that God is constantly passing through our life and that we need to be very attentive and vigilant to where God is calling us.  We shouldn’t dilly-dally, straddle the fence, but be very aware that  it’s game on!   That’s the sense of  urgency in today’s Gospel in which we’re told,  “Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning” (Lk 12:35).  Put simply, this is the way of discipleship. 

            In our 21^st century parlance, we don’t use language like “the loins girded,” ”  which doesn’t resonate to our contemporary ears.  But, it’s a good biblical image because it  evokes the attitude of a pilgrim, someone who’s ready to set out on a journey.  That flies in the face of our penchant of putting down roots in comfortable and secure dwellings, where we remain in control.  There is a Jewish aphorism, referring to Abrahamic journey,  that says, “Don’t pound your tent pegs too deep into the sand.”  Why? We have to be willing to surrender to where God is calling us into our “unknown land.”  We do so with simplicity and trust because we know that God is passing through our lives and that he has a will for us here and now; he is guiding us to our next destination and we can’t be responsive to his purposes if we’re stuck in our comfort and security systems.  As we reflected a few weeks ago on the Our Father, the Lord is always walking with us and he takes us by the hand to guide us so that we don’t err on this journey of faith that is challenging, difficult, and fraught with temptations.   God know very well that the life of faith is not static, but rather is dynamic because it is Spirit driven!  The life of discipleship is a continuous journey towards ever new  phases that the Lord guides us day by day.  Though we are constituted to have an ‘I-Thou’ relationship with God because we are gratuitously made in his image, God is mystery.  Therefore, he is the God of surprises, the God of novelty, the God of making all things new.  That’s why we need to be open to change, to have “our loins girded.” 

            Once we’ve embraced that disposition, we then hear the request to keep the “lamps burning” in order to light up the darkness of the night of the 21^st century.  To do this, we are challenged to live an authentic and mature Catholic-Christian faith that is capable of illuminating the many dark “nights” of our personal lives as well as that of our culture which is shrouded in darkness.  We’ve all had some days that are really dark, where anxiety, fear, and uncertainty creep in.  The lamp of faith will get us through these dark stretches provided we are nourished by the heart-to-heart encounter and engagement with Jesus.  We can be   present to him in prayer, listening to him in Scripture and Tradition, being fed by him in the Sacraments, especially in the Eucharist, and living out Matthew 25.  You see, brothers and sisters, Jesus entrusts himself to us for the good of all.  As someone once said, “While salvation is always personal, it’s never individual.’  We cannot be assured of our own salvation without being vitally concerned for the well-being of others, which is why the Great Commandment has these two necessarily connected dimensions.  It is simply a fantasy to believe that one can go off into a corner, illuminate himself within.  No, real faith opens our heart to the well being of our neighbor and urges us to concrete fellowship with our brothers and sisters, especially with those in need.

            In order to help us understand this attitude, Jesus recounts the parable of the servants who await the return of their master from the marriage feast (cf. vs 36-40), which underscores the need for vigilance: we need to be ready for our  last and definitive encounter with the Lord.    Each of us will have that encounter—there are no exceptions.  While we don’t know when that will happen, each of us has our own date for this definitive encounter, and we don’t want to blow it!  So, the Lord says, “Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes;….If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those servants!” (vs. 37-38).  With these words Jesus is reminding us  that our life in chronological time and space is a journey towards eternity; therefore, we’re called to employ all the gifts and talents that have been given to us to promote the Kingdom of God.  We hear in Paul’s letter to the Hebrews, “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the one that is to come” (13:14).  From this perspective, every moment of our lives becomes precious, and thus we must live and act on this earth from this eternal horizon. 

Everyday we show up, we walk with our brothers and sisters, we do our duties and responsibilities, we do good here and now as our heart longs for Heaven.

            The upshot of living this way is supreme joy.  Jesus gives us a sense of this  with the analogy of the Master who, finding his servants still awake on his return, “will gird himself and have them sit at table, and he welcome  and serve them” (v. 37).  Do you get the import of this?!  The Lord of the Universe, the sole and universal savior of the world, has come to SERVE US!  This is the God of surprises to the N-th degree.  The eternal joy in heaven is revealed here on earth with this Great Reversal.  You’d think that it is us who are called to serve God,  but God will place himself at our service.  You cannot make up a God like this!  And, the Word made Flesh, Jesus of Nazareth, models this in no uncertain terms by placing himself at our service to the point where he died for us for our salvation.  Moreover, he does this all the time!  He prays for us, he looks at our broken condition and prays to his Father for our good.  He serves us here and now.  Jesus is our servant.  And, brothers and sisters, if this doesn’t bring you joy, I don’t know what will.  And this joy will be a definitive joy—we don’t have to look elsewhere to supplement it.  And this joy will propel us to the final encounter with our Father, who was shown in the Parable of the Prodigal Son to be constant in mercy, who fills us with hope, and stirs us to constant commitment for our own holiness and the building of the Kingdom of God. 

            People of God, Jesus is warning us about missing life.  He is virtually saying, “It’s all here and now.”  God is with us and in us, sustaining and loving us each moment.  Live in the moment and celebrate God’s presence!  Don’t let  life just float along,  Chose life each moment.  Enjoy each moment because he is present here and now!  Treasure the life that God has given you.  Gird your loins and keep the lamp burning!  Amen.