Luke 12:35-38

Jesus said to his disciples: “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. 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. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants.” 

Opening Prayer: Come, Holy Spirit, come! Be with me as I ponder these words of Scripture seeking wisdom for my day. 

Encountering Christ:

1. The Last Things: Maybe you are wondering about–or even growing tired of–the recurring theme of these days’ Gospels: the end of life, the end of time, the end of the world. The reason for this emphasis is that the yearly liturgical cycle is approaching its end, and this final stretch is dedicated precisely to the “last things.” In a few weeks, the liturgical year will culminate in the feast of Christ the King before commencing the new year with Advent. Let’s take these last days of the church year to dive deeply into the themes of death, judgment, heaven, and hell with the assurance that our contemplation of these realities will help us to grow in holiness.

2. Ready and Waiting: How ready are we to meet the Master? As the days grow shorter and the light becomes dimmer, we observe that nature has reached the wise and fragile age of an old man. Is one not reminded that all the intense vigor of existence, all the fresh beauty of youth, all the accomplishments of life are fleeting? We can appreciate that this time of year helps to put us in the proper frame of mind to anticipate eternity. We are asked in this Gospel to be ready to meet Jesus face-to-face at any moment. If we’re vigilant, we can expect the Master’s blessing! What will that look like?

3. The Master Waits on Us: Our Lord became man—Jesus lived among us, suffered, died and was buried, and rose from the dead, all for our benefit. That’s how much he loves us. But it seems more than incredible to imagine that Jesus would want to wait on us one day at the heavenly banquet. Yet he tells us so in this parable. What love! What humility! Truly, “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Contemplating a love so incomprehensible should inspire us to drop the sparkly baubles we sometimes cling to in this life and run to his waiting arms. 

Conversing with Christ: Jesus, my heart is yours, and I will prepare for your visit: be it during my next holy Communion, be it at the end of my days, be it by means of your continuous visits throughout each day when you simply look out for my well-being. You are always welcome and expected here!

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will take a moment to meditate on the fact that earthly life is but the prelude before the reality of eternal life.

For Further Reflection: “Man needs eternity for every other hope is too brief, too limited for him. Man can be explained only if there is a Love which overcomes every isolation, even that of death, in a totality which also transcends time and space. Man can be explained, he finds his deepest meaning, only if there is God. And we know that God left his distance for us and made himself close. He entered into our life and tells us: ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die’” (John 11:25-26) (Pope Benedict XVI during General Audience on November 2, 2011: Complete address).