BEING PREPARED FOR THE LORD’S COMING

20150827 BEING PREPARED FOR THE LORD’S COMING

Readings at Mass

First reading

1 Thessalonians 3:7-13 ©

Brothers, your faith has been a great comfort to us in the middle of our own troubles and sorrows; now we can breathe again, as you are still holding firm in the Lord. How can we thank God enough for you, for all the joy we feel before our God on your account? We are earnestly praying night and day to be able to see you face to face again and make up any shortcomings in your faith.

  May God our Father himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, make it easy for us to come to you. May the Lord be generous in increasing your love and make you love one another and the whole human race as much as we love you. And may he so confirm your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless in the sight of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus Christ comes with all his saints.

Psalm

Psalm 89:3-4,12-14,17 ©

Fill us with your love that we may rejoice.

You turn men back to dust

  and say: ‘Go back, sons of men.’

To your eyes a thousand years

  are like yesterday, come and gone,

  no more than a watch in the night.

Fill us with your love that we may rejoice.

Make us know the shortness of our life

  that we may gain wisdom of heart.

Lord, relent! Is your anger for ever?

  Show pity to your servants.

Fill us with your love that we may rejoice.

In the morning, fill us with your love;

  we shall exult and rejoice all our days.

Let the favour of the Lord be upon us:

  give success to the work of our hands.

Fill us with your love that we may rejoice.

Gospel Acclamation

Jn15:15

Alleluia, alleluia!

I call you friends, says the Lord,

because I have made known to you

everything I have learnt from my Father.

Alleluia!

Or	Mt24:42,44

Alleluia, alleluia!

Stay awake and stand ready,

because you do not know the hour

when the Son of Man is coming.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Matthew 24:42-51 ©

Jesus said to his disciples:

  ‘Stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming. You may be quite sure of this that if the householder had known at what time of the night the burglar would come, he would have stayed awake and would not have allowed anyone to break through the wall of his house. Therefore, you too must stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

  ‘What sort of servant, then, is faithful and wise enough for the master to place him over his household to give them their food at the proper time? ‘Happy that servant if his master’s arrival finds him at this employment. I tell you solemnly, he will place him over everything he owns. But as for the dishonest servant who says to himself, “My master is taking his time,” and sets about beating his fellow servants and eating and drinking with drunkards, his master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. The master will cut him off and send him to the same fate as the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.’

BEING PREPARED FOR THE LORD’S COMING

SCRIPTURE READINGS: 1 THESSALONIANS  3:7-13; MT 24:42-51

Whenever we speak of the Lord’s coming, most of us would associate His coming with the End of time.  In one sense it is not wrong.  But this would be a deficient meaning with regard to His Coming.  It is true that scriptures prepare us for the Day of the Lord at the Second Coming of Christ.  Yet, it is important that we do not relegate His coming to the end of time.  If we do, then most of us would postpone living until the last day of our life.  We all think that so long as we make a good confession and receive the Eucharist and the Sacrament of the Sick, we are assured of a place in heaven.  In the meantime, we need not bother much about God, our faith and the kind of life we live here and now.

The truth is that if we were to be ready to welcome the Lord at the end of time or at our death bed, we must already begin to live as if He is already here.  In fact, He is already here, in our hearts, in our fellowmen, in daily events and in every aspect of our life.   So to prepare for the Lord’s coming is not a question of getting ready just when the master appears, like the lazy servant who said, “’My master is taking his time,” and sets about beating his fellow servants and eating and drinking with drunkards.”  There is an important truth here.  The world hereafter cannot be totally dissociated with life here on earth.  How we live here and now determines the kind of life we live hereafter.  It is this radical separation between this life and the next that makes people postpone living the life of the Kingdom on earth and see the future life as a pie in the sky.  In the meantime, they live sinful and selfish lives which put them out of the kingdom, not just in the life to come but already in this life.

So when a disciple asked his master, “How am I to prepare for death?”  The master replied, “Be prepared to live.”  Then the disciple asked again, “How can I be prepared to live?”  The master replied, “Be prepared to die!”  Indeed, living and dying are not two separate phases of life.   They are intrinsically connected.  To live we must die to ourselves; and the way to die is to live for others and not for self.  As we die to ourselves, especially our sins and selfishness, we begin to enjoy a liberated life that is one of joy and blamelessness.  Our conscience will not condemn us and so we can live our life with the freedom and joy of the Spirit.  But when we live a selfish and sinful life of greed, dishonesty, resentment, anger, bitterness with those who have hurt us, etc, we can never be happy in this life, regardless how successful we are in our career or how much wealth we own.  True freedom and joy in living requires that we are able to live and love freely and be free in love.

Consequently, being prepared for the master’s coming is not a matter of days or months or years.  It is a lifelong process.  It calls for fidelity to oneself, one’s vocation, state of life and one’s identity.  We do not do good or live a good life to impress others or even God!  We live an honest life and a life of service because this is the kind of life we believe is truly worth living.  Hence we must be like the first servant, always about his duty and looking after his household, regardless whether the master is in or not.  He knows his role in God’s plan of salvation.  He is simply contented with his own lot, which is to be a servant.  He finds joy, strength and fulfillment just living out his vocation.  He does not need any form of supervision because he is motivated from within and not from without.  He lives one day at a time, doing the best that he possibly can. Jesus considers such a person to be faithful and wise.  And the reward is that the master “will place him over everything he owns.”  As we grow in the capacity to love, greater responsibilities will be given to us. Otherwise, we will not be able to love more, since we cannot even love ourselves authentically. Being true to oneself is what fidelity is all about.  Fidelity is love of oneself.

This explains the joy of St Paul when he was told how the Christian community that he founded in Thessalonica was faithful to their belief in Christ, even under persecution and trial.  They remained faithful to the gospel.  He found strength and comfort in them that his preaching was not done in vain.  Truly, to know that there are people who share our principles concerning faith and life, gives us great encouragement.  Thus, St Paul could say, “How can we thank God enough for you, for all the joy we feel before our God on your account?”

This does not mean that the Christians were perfect or that they had arrived.  St Paul was also realistic to accept that in the journey of life and faith, there will be imperfections.  No one can arrive at love completely in this life.  Thus, it was important for St Paul to also urge them to make greater progress in their faith when he assured them of his earnest prayers for their shortcomings in their faith and growth in holiness. “May the Lord be generous in increasing your love and make you love one another and the whole human race as much as we love you.  And may he so confirm your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless in the sight of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus Christ comes with all his saints.”

Hence, we must not be overly anxious about the Second Coming of Christ or the final judgment at the end of life, as if God wants to send us to hell.  We need to live our daily life, as St Paul says, in holiness and virtuousness before God. Whatever we have to do, we must not be slothful but do our part in building the kingdom of God and helping our fellowmen.  And whatever we do, St Paul tells us, “put your heart into it as if it were for the Lord and not for men, knowing that the Lord will repay you by making you his heirs.”  (Col 3:23)  God might not be watching us as such, but He watches us in our hearts and in our conscience, which is His voice encouraging or reprimanding us.

The failure to live our life to the fullest according to our vocation, talents, opportunities, etc will cause us to regret when we arrive at our deathbed to know that we have not yet begun to live.  This is the warning of Jesus with respect to the dishonest and lazy servant.  “His master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know.  The master will cut him off and send him to the same fate as the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.”  People who have gone through near-death experiences tend to be more realistic and appreciate life more than those of us who live as if our life on earth is forever.  Such people who escape death begin to live their life more fully, not living in their past or thinking about the future but living one day at a time.   They have come to realize that at the end of the day, life is worth living only when it is lived in love and compassion.

The prayer of the psalmist helps us to see life in perspective: “You turn man back to dust, saying, ‘Return, O children of men.’ For a thousand years in your sight are as yesterday, now that it is past, or as a watch of the night. Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart. Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants!”  It is precisely because our life is so short on earth that is why we must enjoy every minute that we have. To enjoy does not mean pampering ourselves and living selfishly, but true enjoyment comes from the joy of loving and caring for others.  When we see their joy and faith, like St Paul, we too will also share in their joys as well.  What we give to others will also be what we receive in return.

Yet in the final analysis, we must remember that to live a graced life, it is ultimately dependent on God alone.  Like the servant, we can only be watchful and alert as to when and how the Lord is coming into our lives, here and now.  He comes every day, but we often let Him pass us by because we are too caught up with worldly pursuits and mundane affairs.  Whilst we cannot force grace to work, we can be receptive to grace.  Through a prayerful life, silent reflection and engagement in the lives of people, we will begin to see His love present around us.  To be alert is to be observant of His presence in our daily life so that when He comes at the end of time or when we take our last breath, we know it is He who is fetching us to our eternal home.  And so with the psalmist, we pray each day, “Fill us at daybreak with your kindness that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days. And may the gracious care of the Lord our God be ours; prosper the work of our hands for us! Prosper the work of our hands! Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!”  

We need not be too worried about the end of time as some of the Thessalonians were and refused to work.  But we will live everyday as if it is the last day of our life, and when the last day of our life arrives, we will live as if it is another ordinary day.  There should be no real difference between the last day and today.  When we live everyday as if it is the last day, we will live intensely and consciously.  And when the last day comes, that day will be as intense as any other day.  On one hand, we must not allow daily activities to distract us from the ultimate destiny and goal of our life.  On the other hand, we must not allow the future to cripple our present life. God has given us two eyes, one to focus on this life, as St Paul urged the Christians, by being faithful to our duties; and the other, to focus on heaven when we return home.

Written by The Most Rev William Goh

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore

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