READING 1:
Wisdom 18:6-9 Psalm
33 READING 2: Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-9 GOSPEL: Luke 12:35-40
Why do we need to be vigilant? Why be alert? Why be awake? I don’t think Jesus is speaking of the end of the world. A three year old girl was the firstborn and only child in her family, but now her parents were pregnant again, and the little girl was excited about having a new brother or sister. Within a few hours of her parents bringing her new baby brother home from the hospital, the little girl made a request: she wanted to be alone with her new brother in his room with the door shut. Her insistence about being alone with the baby with the door closed made her parents a bit uneasy, but they had installed an intercom system in anticipation of the baby’s arrival. They realized they could let their daughter do this, and if they heard the slightest indication that anything strange was happening, they could be in the baby’s room in an instant. So they let the three year old little girl into the baby’s room, shut the door, and raced to the intercom listening station. They heard their daughter’s footsteps moving across the baby’s room, imagined her standing by the baby’s crib, and they heard her say to her three day old brother, “Tell me about God—I’ve almost forgotten.” This story is both haunting and evocative, for it suggests that we come from God and that when we are very young, we still remember this, still know this. We never totally forget; but, influenced by our family, our culture, our friends and our peers, we get distracted; we get confused; we get arrogant. When Jesus tells us to be vigilant, I think he telling us to remember what we once knew intimately. When we think of ourselves we realize that we are contradictions. We are generous and selfish; we are faithful and distracted; and we are honest and we justify our lies and gossip. We are impressed by both a Mother Theresa and the lifestyles of the rich and infamous. We are heroic and self indulgent. We believe and we doubt. We give to the church and we spend extravagantly on entertainment. I could go on and on, but you know how it is with us human beings. Everything good about us seems to have a shadow side. Maturity doesn’t bring perfection, but it does make us wiser. We don’t come to church because God needs us; we come to church to tip the balance of our contradictions in favor of what is best in us. We need to be born again into our own good news. When we are born again in Baptism, Jesus takes us by the hand. If we go his way we find our best selves. The good news is that God created every one of us in love and we can never ever fully exhaust the tremendous energy that creative spirit offers us. God breaks into our daily routines all the time to give us little reminders. Is it possible to look into the face of a baby and not smile? Is it possible to reach out in faith to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and not be renewed in hope and love? What the story about the little girl’s visit with her baby brother tells us is that at our core there is a memory of perfect peace, perfect joy, perfect contentment and much of our lives are a quest to connect to that memory. Jesus tells us to stay alert, to be vigilant, to follow his lead or we are likely to drift into muddle headed distracting, depleting, depressing, distancing from our best memories. This where we reclaim our quest for lasting refreshment, the good news is that when we gather at this table, we receive the energy to thrive.Fr. Jeff McGowan |
