These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
You also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come. (Lk 12:39-48)
I grew up in a church that seemed to love scaring people into being good with talk about the “end of the world.” There were so many sermons about the end times . . . you wouldn’t believe the number of sermons I heard on the European Common Market being the “beast” of the Book of Revelation. The gospel according to Luke tries to put an end to such distracting speculation. The church is in for the long haul. We don’t need to worry about the “when” of the end of the world (as my grandmother would say, “The world ends everyday when someone dies!”) . . . Luke’s gospel reminds us that it’s important that we stay busy doing the Lord’s work.
Blessed are those servants
whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.
Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself,
have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. (Lk 12:35-38)
If the Lord finds us ready when he comes, he will serve us! Today is the feast of the North American martyrs who were found vigilant when the Lord came. The martyrs are St. Jean de Brébeuf (1649), St. Noël Chabanel (1649), St. Antoine Daniel (1648), St. Charles Garnier (1649), St. René Goupil (1642), St. Isaac Jogues (1646), St. Jean de Lalande (1646) and St. Gabriel Lalemant (1649). The eight were Jesuit missionaries who died in Canada and upstate New York.
Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you,
for the laborer deserves payment.
Do not move about from one house to another. (Lk 10:1-9)
What an interesting instruction for early Christian missionaries: obviously, some missionaries were shopping around looking for better accommodations or a better table! Today is not so much the feast of a person (a gospel writer), but the feast of the gospel itself, the one we call “according to Luke.”
“Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.
For the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mk 10:35-45)
Not to be served, but to serve and to give his life . . . through his suffering my servant will justify many . . . the eyes of the Lord are on those who wait for his kindness to deliver them from death . . . we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, so let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy.
Abraham, is the father of all of us, as it is written, I have made you father of many nations.
He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead
and calls into being what does not exist. He believed, hoping against hope,
that he would become the father of many nations,
according to what was said, Thus shall your descendants be. (Rom 4:13, 16-18)
The faith of Abraham is shared and revered by Jews, Christians and Moslems. Indeed, how numerous are the descendants of Abraham! Today’s picture is of our father, Abraham, with his many sons. Mary, the mother of Jesus and our mother too, is a descendant of Abraham.