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“Students, please take out two sheets of paper and a sharpened pencil. Begin answering the questions on the board. You’ll have thirty minutes to complete your work.”

“Yes, this is a pop quiz.”

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In high school, those five alarming words – this is a pop quiz– made my stomach drop. It felt like some of my teachers just loved to torture us.

Anyone who didn’t do the previous night’s readings or who fell asleep during yesterday’s math lesson was doomed to fail.

As an achiever who tried earning good grades, being caught off guard or unprepared was the worst feeling ever.

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In the Gospel, Jesus tells us to, “Be like servants who await their master’s return.” 

Like a high school teacher announcing a pop quiz, we simply don’t know when he’s coming back. It’s best to be ready.

But is the Lord’s return something we should fear? Or is it something we should welcome?

I suppose a large part of our answer depends upon our image of God. So who is God to me?

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Is God like a distant father figure? Or maybe a stickler for rules who holds me accountable for every little misstep?

Yuck!

Or is God my shepherd, my friend, even my lover, who loves me in spite of my failings?

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Part of Luke’s motivation for writing his Gospel is to help shape our view of God.

In particular, Luke is writing to the second generation of Christians who, like us, didn’t have direct contact with Jesus. 

Their elders expected the Lord to return immediately, but since Jesus didn’t, some left the faith and became morally lax. 

God became a distant figure, someone they’d deal with at the end of their lives – if he’s there at all.

It’s a temptation that people still fall into today.

Frankly, most people aren’t concerned with the second coming of Jesus. They’re more worried about their grocery list or what’s next on Netflix.

Yet at the same time, Americans have become increasingly fragile, even obsessed over the truth of our own mortality. 

Think of the random shootings that happened in El Paso and Dayton this past week.

Some parents are now sending their children to school with Kevlar bulletproof backpacks!

Even though the chance of being caught in such a nightmare is minimal, it’s strong enough to put fear in our bones.

The truth is, we know our end is somewhere on the horizon, but many treat it like something they’ll deal with tomorrow.

If God’s there, we’ll deal with him then.

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But Jesus says to, “Be like servants who await their master’s return.” What, then, does it mean to be ready?

Simply being at peace with God – and at peace with one another. 

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Am I at peace? Or is there unresolved tension in my life?

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This is why I try examining my own conscience at the end of each night, asking myself questions like:

Where did I encounter the Lord today? How kind was I to my neighbor? Did I grow in love? Do I need to forgive or ask for forgiveness?

It’s a simple way to stay accountable – to stay ready.

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“Students, please take out two sheets of paper and a sharpened pencil. Begin answering the questions on the board. Yes, this is a pop quiz.”

Now just as I cannot borrow another student’s work, I cannot borrow another person’s relationship with God. 

I have my own – and you have yours.

The beauty is, however, that there’s no competition. Everyone has the opportunity to enter into the kingdom of God.

How, then, can we grow in peace with God and with one another? 

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Doing so will only prepare us for the journey ahead.

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Edith Stein, whose feast day we celebrate today, represents all of those people who suffer because of who they are. 

In Edith’s case, she was born into a Jewish family in Poland at the turn of the 20^thcentury. 

After losing her faith in college, she rediscovered the Lord, converted to Catholicism, and became a Carmelite nun right before the breakout of World War Two.

But shortly afterwards, she and the other nuns in her convent were shipped off to Auschwitz and gassed.

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Stein was hated because she was Jewish…and, again, because she became Catholic.

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But the people in Dayton, the migrants in El Paso, the children headed off to elementary school across America are targeted, too.

Throughout history, people have been deemed objects of hate because of their race, their color, their religion, and so on.

Edith Stein – and all the victims of hate – remind us that we must learn to transcend these boundaries that divide us, seeing each person as made in the image and likeness of God.

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Do I hold any prejudice in my own heart? Do I ever see myself as more valuable than another human being?

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True Christianity means that we support the dignity of every person, regardless of how different they may seem from you or from me.

“For whatever you do to the least of these my brothers and sisters,” Jesus says,“you do unto me.”

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The Romans used to say that money is like saltwater; the more you drink, the thirstier you become.

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To prove it, just look at the state of our world today. Half of the world’s wealth is held by just 1% of the world’s population! It’s mind boggling.

Greed has driven countries into war, split families apart, and cost many people their jobs.

The Romans were right. Money is like saltwater. The more we drink, the thirstier we become. More is never enough.

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But let’s not condemn the world’s 1% as if it’s “us versus them.” Any human heart can be lured by greed. 

For example, by a show of hands, how many of us have heard about the two American teenagers accused of killing a police officer in Rome last week?

Allegedly, those boys stole a man’s backpack and demanded 100 euros for its return. 

When they went to exchange it, two undercover police officers tried to arrest them. But the boys fought back, stabbing one of the officers to death.

Now these 19-year-old kids are facing life in a foreign prison. All for 100 euros.

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 “You fools, this night your life will be demanded of you” (Luke 12:20).

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Like these American teenagers, the man in the Gospel loses his life because of his greed. 

Only he’s not a college freshman. He’s an older, more mature man, who’s had plenty of opportunities to share his wealth with others. 

But his success makes him increasingly selfish. Like drinking saltwater – the more he has, the thirstier he becomes. More is never enough. 

“This is what I shall do,” he says. “I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones!”

“You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you.”

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How do you think people will remember him?

Think, in particular, about those who could’ve benefitted from his excess wealth – his family, his neighbors, his hired hands. What will they say about his life – his character?

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Perhaps they’d quote Jesus himself, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, but lose his soul?”

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In his book, The Road to Character, David Brooks makes a distinction between résumé virtues and eulogy virtues. 

Résumé virtues are those things that define our lives externally – our test scores, the company we work for, the threads we wear, the size of our homes – all those things the world values.

Eulogy virtues, on the other hand, speak to our character – how kind, faithful, forgiving, and generous we have been. This is what people remember at the end of our lives – how well we have treated them.

In the case of the man in the Gospel, his life was filled with résumé virtues – most notably his wealth. But he had no character.

Though he was rich on the surface, he was empty within. This proved to be his fatal mistake, thinking he could buy his own happiness. 

Deep down we all know that isn’t possible. Bigger barns will never be enough.

Often what we need is not more money, but more meaningful relationships. The deeper our relationships are, the happier we become. 

It’s a lesson this man either never learned or tried to deny. 

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What are our résumé virtues?

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And, more importantly, what are our eulogy virtues? How well do we treat others?

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“Be rich in what matters to God,” Jesus says. Namely, be rich in love, because love grows when it’s shared.

Money, on the other hand, is like salt water; the more we have the thirstier we become. It will never be enough.

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For today’s Mass readings, go to:

www. usccb.org