Fourth Week

4^TH DAY

Luke 12, 35-38

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Reflect

Since some years past, there has been a lot of insistence, and rightly so, about the need that Christians have to insert their faith in the most profound of their human life and, by doing so, participate with the rest of men in the great collective projects for human liberation and universal brotherhood that cross history.

There have been epochs, in fact, in which Christians appeared to lose interest in worldly matters. The recent and great accusation against the Church was to say that Faith was the "opium of the people". the thought of heaven and hell was like a refuge that lulled men and alienated them from their human tasks.

What does Jesus think of this?

Is the Gospel alienating?

And, if it alienates men, in what direction does it do so?

Jesus said "Put on your working clothes". "let your loins be girded about" and "keep your lamps lighted".

To wear an apron is to be ready for work. It is the "uniform of service". (Luke 12, 37; 17, 8; John 13, 4; Ephesians 6, 14). It was also the attire of the traveler, what was worn by the Hebrews to celebrate the Passover (Exodus 12, 11). To have a lamp lit, is to be always ready, even during the night.

No, a Christian is not a person alienated.on the contrary, he is constantly at the alert, always ready for action and prepared to serve day and night.

Am I prepared to serve in every instant, in every moment?

Be like those that await the return of their master from a wedding in order to, when he arrives, open the door when he calls.

For what and for whom should we be always available? For the "arrival" or "return" of someone. The detail "return from the wedding" is to indicate that it will be at a late and indeterminate hour: in rural civilizations in those times, it can be said that weddings were the only circumstance in which one returned home late.

Yes, Jesus is coming.. we run the risk of not being ready waiting for him... because his arrival is "unexpected", unforeseen, hidden. Am I always ready to receive Jesus? He comes in many ways:

In His Word, proposed each day, he is there...Am I faithful to prayer?

He is in all men who need me. "I was hungry, I was alone"..

In the Church and what it proposes to me. He is there "who listens to you, listens to me"

In events "signs of the times", which need to be deciphered, He is there.

In my happiness and in my sorrows, in my death and in my life, He is there .

The children come home from school: it is Jesus who comes and wants me to be there. A colleague comes to ask me to lend him a hand: it is Jesus who comes. I am invited to an important meeting to participate in the life of school, the company, the group, the Church.. Will I stay quietly in my corner? I am preparing the meal. I am working in the office, in my study, in my workshop. It is Jesus that comes and whom I should receive.

Happy those servants if the Master finds them keeping vigil when he returns.

To keep vigil means to renounce sleep at night, in order to finish an urgent jobor to not be surprised by an enemy. In a more symbolic sense, it is to fight against bluntness, negligence, to be always in a state of availability. Happy! Happy those!

Write down some ideas.