21st Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: 1Cor 1:1-9
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.
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.”
STAY AWAKE! The two parables in the gospel emphasizes on the need of watchfulness. Watchfulness is the result of awareness. If one is aware of the time, he would surely be watchful. It is the lack of knowledge or ignorance that leads to unpreparedness. The parable of the two servants contrasts watchfulness and lack of vigilance. The faithful and wise servant is committed to the work entrusted to him by the master. The result is that he is abundantly rewarded. The unfaithful and foolish servant, on the contrary, earned the displeasure of the master. The lesson is very clear that watchfulness or preparedness will be rewarded and lack of vigilance will be punished. The uncertainty of the time of the coming of the Son of Man must keep us busy preparing ourselves to be ready to meet him. Watchfulness will reward an encounter with Jesus and eternal life.
Prayer: Lord help me to be prepared to meet you in your second coming.
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BE READY: To live without watchfulness is to bid disaster. Thieves work on the principle of surprise. They would wish to get us off guard. This, Jesus says, is how he will appear. Paul tells the church to practice love for each other and to be strengthened so that they can remain holy and blameless on the day of coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to be ready all the time in order to receive Jesus when he comes for the second time. The spirit which leads to unpreparedness is the spirit which says there is plenty of time. Such a deception of time takes out of our system the zeal to work hard. As that happens we lazy around giving room for the devil to take charge of our hearts.
DAILY GOSPEL 