Category: Uncategorized

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Gospel: 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.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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“Stay awake!” the Lord says.

This idea of staying awake – of being watchful, alert – first surfaces in the Old Testament. 

Physically, it applied to Israel defending itself from foreign armies. As the LORD says through the prophet Isaiah, “I have set watchmen upon your walls, O Jerusalem, by day and by night they shall never be silent.”

Imagine soldiers pacing back and forth, keeping an eye out for an invasion. It was their job to stay awake and protect their city.

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But it was every person’s responsibility within the city walls to protect their heart. This is a person’s most valuable possession in God’s eyes. As we read in the Book of Proverbs, “Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.”

Jesus drives this point home in today’s Gospel. “If the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, then he would have stayed awake.”

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It’s Satan’s desire to damage us spiritually; to pollute our hearts, replacing our thoughts of God with the things of this world. 

The three easiest ways to defend ourselves – to protect our hearts – are through our eyes, our ears, and our mouth. We must be sensitive about what we see, what we listen to, and what we say. 

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How aware am I of my need to stay awake – to defend my heart, and by extension my faith?

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“You do not know on which day your Lord will come,” Jesus says.

So, stay awake. Be watchful and ready.

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Image credits: (1) Bible.com (2) Wikipedia, Jerusalem (3) PictureQuotes.com

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Gospel: Matthew 23: 27-32

Jesus said,
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside,
but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth.
Even so, on the outside you appear righteous,
but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You build the tombs of the prophets
and adorn the memorials of the righteous, 
and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors,
we would not have joined them in shedding the prophets’ blood.’
Thus you bear witness against yourselves
that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets;
now fill up what your ancestors measured out!”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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When I entered the seminary, one of the first books I read was a novel called, The Diary of a Country Priest, by Georges Bernanos. 

It’s about a young priest living in a small village in the French countryside. Most of the book is composed of his diary entries, documenting – among other things – the slow erosion of faith that happens in his parish.

Once zealous parishioners become lukewarm of heart. 

“Faith,” he writes, “is not something you lose like a set of keys.”

It slowly weakens over time. 

It can happen to anyone: life gets busy and we start missing Mass; prayer becomes routine or a prayer goes unanswered; a sudden shock or disappointment strikes; God becomes less involved in our daily decision making.

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I wonder if this what happened to some of the scribes and Pharisees whom Jesus criticizes in today’s Gospel.

Most of them were probably good, law-abiding men, whose faith slowly weakened over time; in fact, they became so blind that God was standing right in front of them and they didn’t even realize it!

What caused their loss of faith? 

Perhaps a slow, growing attachment to human praise, important titles, or the world. 

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What is my own spiritual life like? Do I feel my faith slowly slipping away or gradually getting stronger? 

Rarely, if ever, is it neutral.

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Faith is not something we lose like a set of keys.

It’s weakened – or strengthened – over time. May God give us all the grace to strengthen it today.

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Image credits: (1) Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope (2) Roger Ebert (3) Pinterest

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Gospel: Mark 6: 17-29

Herod was the one who had John arrested and bound in prison
on account of Herodias,
the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married.
John had said to Herod,
“It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”
Herodias harbored a grudge against him
and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so.
Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man,
and kept him in custody.
When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed,
yet he liked to listen to him.
Herodias had an opportunity one day when Herod, on his birthday,
gave a banquet for his courtiers, his military officers,
and the leading men of Galilee.
His own daughter came in and performed a dance
that delighted Herod and his guests.
The king said to the girl,
“Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you.”
He even swore many things to her,
“I will grant you whatever you ask of me,
even to half of my kingdom.”

She went out and said to her mother,
“What shall I ask for?”
Her mother replied, “The head of John the Baptist.”
The girl hurried back to the king’s presence and made her request,
“I want you to give me at once on a platter
the head of John the Baptist.”
The king was deeply distressed,
but because of his oaths and the guests
he did not wish to break his word to her.
So he promptly dispatched an executioner
with orders to bring back his head.
He went off and beheaded him in the prison.
He brought in the head on a platter
and gave it to the girl.
The girl in turn gave it to her mother.
When his disciples heard about it,
they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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King Herod was a ruthless, bloodthirsty man. 

We see evidence of this in today’s Gospel, as he orders the death of John the Baptist, a decision he made while he was drunk at a party.

But even after John’s death, Herod, “kept trying to see him.” While he was a ruthless killer, Herod was also intrigued by John. 

In fact, he used to call John into his chambers and listen to him speak. John stirred something inside of him; he tickled Herod’s curiosity about the divine.

Now after John’s death, he’s haunted by the fact that he’s killed an innocent man – and, in fact, a prophet.

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This back and forth battle between light and darkness, between the search for truth and the need for survival, reveals how deeply conflicted Herod was. 

He clung to power. Yet in his bedchamber at midnight wondered if there was more to life; even the possibility of rising from the dead. 

“Could it be,” he questions in today’s Gospel, “that John the Baptist has been raised from the dead?” And if so, then what might this mean for Herod?

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That to me is where so many people in our world are at today.

Though unlike Herod in his thirst for power, many still fluctuate between belief and unbelief; they’re searching, seeking, wondering what’s out there.

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Our invitation is to be like John the Baptist, sharing the truth with them, which is done most effectively by the way we live our lives. 

As Saint Francis of Assisi once said, “Preach always. Only when necessary use words.”

In what ways do I share my faith with others? and how might I do so today?

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Image credits: (1) Soul Searching, Warrior Mind Coach (2) National Trust, Penrhyn Castle (3) Daily Word For All, WordPress