Not Clarity but Trust

Listening to the Spirit

Lord, you tell us to be vigilant and watch for your coming.
Show us how to
find you in the Eucharist,
help us find you in those we love,
in strangers we meet, in the poor and needy.
Let us find you in our sleep, in our work and in our play,
watch for you in our laughter and in our tears,
in the deep souls of everyone we meet
every day in the dusk and in the dark of night. Amen.

Listening to the Word

Luke 12:32-48

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

“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. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

Then Peter said, “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?” And the Lord replied, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so. Truly, I say to you, the master will put the servant in charge of all his property. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish the servant severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”

Reflection

Once, a man traveled high into the mountains in search of peace. Life in the city had left him tired, scattered, and restless. He had heard of a quiet monastery far above the noise, where monks lived in peace. When he arrived, he found the place simple — no grand temples, no loud chanting — just monks walking slowly, eating quietly, living calmly.

He approached the elder monk and asked, “What do you do here all day?” The monk smiled and said, “We eat. We walk. We sleep.” The man was surprised. “But that’s what everyone does!”

The monk gently replied:
“Yes — but when we eat, we know that we are eating.
When we walk, we know that we are walking.
When we sleep, we know that we are sleeping.”

We eat while worrying. We lie down to sleep but carry the world on our backs. We forget to be present — to ourselves, to one another, and most of all… to God.

In today’s Gospel Jesus invites us to be alert, to be vigilant like a servant waiting for the Master. “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.” The capacity to wait patiently and actively is a concrete sign of faith and hope to God and His promises.

Abraham was a man of faith who keep trusting and hoping in God. ”By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was to go.” Abraham kept walking with eyes of faith and hope in God who would fulfill His promise in His own time. The servant waiting for the coming of his master because there is a delight in serving the Master.

As we grappling and struggling to find meaning of our lives, sometimes in our prayers, we ask for a clarity and an instant answer. Perhaps, we can learn from the servant in today’s gospel or Abraham in the second reading that what they had or prayed for was not a clarity but trust in God who will return and fulfill His own promises in His time.

Let us keep lighting our candles of faith and hope by staying alert through our prayers and good actions. By doing so we are like a servant whose delight found in waiting and serving the Master. Because maybe holiness isn’t found only in big things. Maybe it begins right here — with the way we eat, walk, work, and sleep--and knowing we do so with God. And when all else is unclear, may the heart of faith say, “into your hands I commend my spirit.”