Deacon Larry

Thursday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time

1 Cor 1: 1-9; Mt 24: 42-51

Dc. Larry Brockman

Vigilant.  Jesus wants us to be vigilant, to be watchful, lest a thief come and steal us blind.   

Modern day thieves come in many forms.  But the ones we need to look out for the most are the spiritual thieves- thieves who rob us of our innocence or our dignity, or our virtue.  These are the thieves who ruin our relationship with God, so that when the Lord returns, we are not ready.   

The world is full of these kinds of thieves.  Some of them offer pleasure and power at the expense of our innocence or dignity or virtue.  Their theme is “Have a good time now, enjoy life”   But we must always be vigilant that we don’t put God’s plan for us on the back burner by abandoning God’s law and his plan for us.  For example, we cannot afford to defer our responsibilities to our children, or our responsibilities to know, love, and serve God; and we cannot afford to be sidetracked by subtle forms of addiction- food, sex, sports, or whatever they may be.   

And then there are those who argue that we should be tolerant of other values because we live in a free society.  But some of these values move society away from God, and they can slowly poison our own relationship with God.  The Pro Choice agenda, Cohabitation before Marriage, and spending beyond our means come to mind.  Before you know it, we can find ourselves drifting away from our core values because “everybody does it”.     

Indeed, we are advised that we should always be prepared for the return of the Lord.  And as the Gospel parable clearly says, that preparation includes responsible stewardship of the Master’s precious affairs.  What could be more precious than our core values? 

When we are in the prime of life, the return of the Lord seems so remote and distant.  But, the reality is that life is very precious.  Just a couple of weeks ago, one of our parishioners, a young woman, died from complications to childbirth.  And at the same time, a young parishioner of 22 died in a terrible car crash.   Just this week, a seven year old girl in our parish died suddenly.  Indeed, it can happen to any of us.  So be watchful, and be prepared for the Lord’s return by guarding your core values as Christians. 

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 26th, 2010 at 4:10 pm and is filed under Holy Family Weekday Homilies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.