My dear brothers and sisters, what wonderful readings are presented to us in today’s Holy Mass wherein we find such themes as living in a way which is pleasing to God, yet having been given the freedom, wisdom and grace by God to be able to do so.
For all of us, this life is a gift—a journey towards an eternity with God in heaven, where with his angels and saints we can live in a state of holy beatitude forever. He has planned this from the conception of creation and has given us the grace to discern his holy and all-loving will, slowly and gradually.
Each of us is a work in progress. It is as if we are the only precious rock he has to work with, in creating the most marvellous sculpture—a masterpiece so dear to his heart. He chisels away through the holy spirit, using one tool after the other, to get us into the good form of sainthood.
Bishop Fulton Sheen once mused that God has two ideas of us: what we are now, and what we could become. He sees us as we are currently, and he sees the great saint we can be, if we allow him to form and shape our hearts and minds and wills. This is not easy, because at play in the middle of all of it is our freedom to choose to allow him to direct us, or to heed rather the other voices of the world that call us to empty pleasure and a life void of purpose.
Saint Paul in his letter to the Ephesians urges them in the fourth chapter to live in a way worthy of the calling with which they have been called. “I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.” I would be remiss if I didn’t mention to you, that when I received my surprise calling to the priesthood and asked the Lord to be patient and send me signs, this very text was the very first sign he sent me. I remember as if it was yesterday kneeling in my room, on the carpeted floor, in front of a statue of our blessed Mother holding baby Jesus, with candles lit, and just asking the Lord to confirm what I was hearing in my heart and mind. When I opened the bible spontaneously, this passage is what I opened to. It was as if he was in the room there with me, speaking to me, tenderly, in a way that only God could.
In any case, he was initiating a journey that would see me leaving everything behind and trying to say yes to his call. And what I say of myself, you can apply to your own journey: he alone knew me more than I knew myself. He alone knew the path he had set before me. I can tell you my brothers and sisters, it has not been dull, and it has not been lacking the excitement of the most fantastic adventure film you’ve ever seen. It has gone beyond all that, into the world of the supernatural, but immersed deep into a pool of love within which I find myself whenever I think of how he holds me deep within his burning love, within his sacred heart. And he asks me to be wise. To be wise for my own well-being, but also for the well-being of others.
And so in the gospel today he speaks about recognizing the signs of the times. We see the clouds darken and we say it will rain, and so it does. How is it we cannot discern the times in which we live? Now he said that two-thousand years ago. The exact words are, “why do you not know how to interpret the present time?” My point is… for someone hearing his words two-thousand years ago, that would have been the “present time”. For someone reading this gospel in the first century, the first century was the present time. For someone in the fifth, or thirteenth, or the twentieth, etc, that would be the present time. Well, what about our present time? In other words, in every generation, from the time immemorial we have been called to
be vigilant always. Why? Because we just never know when our time will come. This is Christ’s basic message of warning to all of us… that the time is short ALWAYS. Think about it, what is forty or sixty or even a hundred years, compared to trillions without end? Hence my brothers, and sisters, be careful of those who try to alarm you and have you try to save your life in this world. Jesus warned us about that too: blessed are those who lose their life for my sake, for they shall find it. In other words, our home is not here, but with God. Now this does not mean we do not do our best to live good and decent lives here, but it does mean that we remain a people of vision knowing that our true abode forever lies beyond these walls, this ground, this sky, this beautiful world of ours. Our eternal abode is in that place beyond what human language can describe.
With this in mind, how should we therefore conduct ourselves? What manner of life ought we to lead? With what diligence ought we to aspire to be of assistance to others, making someone else’s life a little bit easier each day? And what do we call this? Service. Jesus reminded us that the greatest in heaven would be those who were servants to others. “Whoever of you wants to be first, must be your slave.”
My brothers and sisters, let us ask the Lord to give us true wisdom, and to allow us to continue to follow him all the days of our lives, like the saints, who knew that peril surrounded them on either side, but that someone greater than all that peril was their Father and his power and grace know no bounds. Let us continue to trust in him, and continue to nurture our relationships in priority: God, our Blessed Mother, Saint Joseph, our Guardian Angel, and all the angels and saints. And then, when those relationships are tended to, our earthly treasures become all the more magnificent – our spouses, vocational companions, our parents, children, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and yes, even the stranger becomes this glowing image of the God who created them, if we but remain close and dependent on Him in prayer. He will provide, and he will see us through whatever darkness may come. Through the intercession of the Queen of Angels, may you be blessed, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Go in peace thanking the Lord for his mercy. Amen.
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