St. John Nepomucene

We are Called to Wait Vigilantly

 
This gospel reading from St. Luke’s gospel is often proclaimed at wakes.  “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.”
 
The Gospel calls us to wait vigilantly.  We are called to be prepared to welcome the Lord when he comes.  In the gospel we hear these lines, “You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”  This is a reference both to the present moment and the call to service.  We look forward to next Sunday, August 25^th to have a beautiful celebration at our parish picnic at Klima Gardens.  Part of active vigilance in waiting is to be attuned to the present moment and to respond to the present invitations which we receive to serve Our Lord and to serve our Parish Community.  I hope everyone stops by at our Parish Picnic, which will begin with the 11 am Mass at Klima Gardens and will go until
6 pm.
 
A four-year old boy was kneeling by his bedside under his father’s watchful eye.  It was time for evening prayers, giving hugs and getting tucked into bed.  The boy began his favorite rhyming prayer, “Now I lay me down to sleep.”  This time, however, as the boy proceeded, he got a bit tongue-tied and said, “If I should wake before I die.”  He laughed and looked shyly at his father and said, “Sorry Daddy, I got all mixed up.”
 
His dad just smiled, let the boy finish and tucked him into bed.  As the father walked out of his son’s bedroom, he thought over this illuminating confusion.  The father thought to himself, “No son, I think you said the words exactly as they should be prayed.”  There is this call to wake up to what God wants us to do.  There is this call to focus upon what is really important, Service to God and to others.
 
Also, this Gospel passage is a call to prepare ourselves for our own deaths.  The Gospel says that you do not know the hour when your life will end and when you will be called to give an account.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of the recent shootings of the people in El Paso, Texas and in Dayton.  Most likely, they did not expect that to be the hour at which their lives would end.  Similarly, you and I do not know when the time will come that our earthly lives will be over.
 
The Good News as promised in the Gospel is this.  If we serve our Lord in our present moments, upon our death, we will find our Lord waiting upon us, serving us.  So let us be vigilant for the Lord’s coming in this life so that we will be happy with him in the next.