20210826 LAST THINGS FIRST
26 August, 2021, Thursday, 21st Week, Ordinary Time
First reading |
1 Thessalonians 3:7-13 © |
Now we can breathe again, as you are still holding firm in the Lord
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.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 89(90):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 © |
He is coming at an hour you do not expect
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.’
LAST THINGS FIRST
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 Th 3:7-13; Ps 90:3-4,12-14,17; Mt 24:42-51]
The principle of arriving at our goal or destination is always to put the “last things first.” This is because unless we know the last things, the final outcome of what we do, we will live our lives aimlessly. We will just drift along not knowing when we will arrive or whether there is any destination at all. This is what is happening to many people in the world today. They are so focused on the “now”, what they are doing that they forget the goal ahead of them.
Forgetfulness or ignorance of the end is the cause of complacency and disorientation. When we do not know the last things of this life, we live like the YOLOS, “you only live once.” The only last thing they know is death. Hence, they must enjoy as much as they can since after death, there is nothing. They believe that our life ends on this earth and there is no hereafter. This is why they can live adventurously and recklessly. There is no accountability to anyone, surely, not God but at most to ourselves in this life. So, it doesn’t matter that we do evil so long as we do not get caught or overcome by good forces.
But the Church tells us that the Last Things consist of death, judgment, hell and heaven. These are the four last things. This is clearly brought up in today’s both scripture readings. Death is not the end but the prelude to judgment and hell or heaven. In the gospel, Jesus spoke of the responsibility of God’s servants. Jesus said to His disciples, “Stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming. You too must stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” St Paul wrote to the Christians about the final judgment, “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.” If we are irresponsible, then the outcome would be damnation as Jesus said, “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.”
It is significant that the parable today is not addressed to unbelievers who have no inkling of the four last things. It is addressed to those who believe, those who are disciples of the Lord. In other words, the parable is addressed to believers who are in the Church, not those outside the fold. The parable is prefaced by the statement that Jesus was addressing His disciples. The tragedy of many Christians is that although they are baptized and they know the last four things, they live their lives oblivious to this fact. We live our lives as if we are YOLOs, like the rest of the world, thinking that this life on earth is all there is to live for. We forget, as the psalmist says, “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. 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.”
Hence, the Lord urges us twice to stay awake. This is because the master, the Son of Man, the Eternal Judge, will come at an hour we do not expect. But He will come. Even if we are not around on the last day, He will come on our last day on this earth, which could be any day because we cannot determine when our last day on earth is. This is what St James urges us, “You do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (Jms 4:14) That is why we must be prepared at all times. The failure to keep vigilant is the cause of irresponsibility in living our life in truth, in goodness and in righteousness. This is what the Devil wants us to do and that is why the greatest deception he has sowed in the world today is that there is no life after death, there is no God to judge us. We will not suffer for doing evil, and if we do, at most we will only suffer in this life.
How then do we stay awake? As servants of God, we must be found working at all times. Jesus said, “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.” When someone told John Calvin to rest from his untiring preaching of the gospel, he said, “Do you want the Lord to find me idle when He comes?” As servants of God, there is no rest, just as God is always working. It does not mean that we must always be doing something. What it means is that we must be loving and sometimes being loving would involve doing something. But there are times when being loving is just being present to God and to our brothers and sisters, hearing their pains and sharing their joys. So it means doing good or simply being loving in whatever situation we are in. This is the sure way to stand ready when the Lord comes. He will find us awake and walking in the light of truth and love.
Unfortunately, many Christians, although baptized in the Lord, do not serve Christ. Instead, they serve themselves. We know that the master would come but we live under the illusion that there is plenty of time for preparation and for conversion. We say, I will change my life when I reach 70 years old. Or I will give up my pursuits of the world when I have made enough money. We keep postponing righteous, honest and selfless giving to our brothers and sisters. At most we leave our money and wealth to our loved ones and charitable organizations when we die, simply because we cannot bring a single cent with us to the next life. And that kind of giving has no real merits at all since we are giving upon death. No sacrifice is needed for us to give away our wealth. When there is no sacrifice, there is no real love. Of course, we give to our loved ones most of all. It is a kind of love and gratitude but otherwise what shall we do with our property?
Worse still, if we are living a selfish and sinful life. This is the servant that the Lord condemns. “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.” When we do not respect people, engage in promiscuous activities or be responsible in our tasks, we will suffer our fate. A day will come when we are consumed by self-indulgence, the flesh, sensuality and pleasures, like the rich man who was so oblivious to Lazarus, the poor man, we will lose touch with ourselves, with humanity and with God. We will come to a state when we no longer know how to love or what is true love.
This parable of course is addressed in a special way to the leaders of the Church and of society. We are stewards of God’s grace and His people. How we manage ourselves and our people require accountability to the Lord. The greater the office, the more talents and blessings we receive, more is demanded of us to give and to help the people under our charge. But if we are like that irresponsible chief servant, we would be doubly punished because we have abused our powers, our position and the gifts God has entrusted to us. Indeed, heavier is the judgment on those given responsibility in leadership.
Today, we are called to imitate St Paul in his exemplary leadership in the first reading. His heart was always with the people. He shared their joy, their pain and their struggles. St Paul was always anxious for the people, not just the Thessalonians that he had converted. “Besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches.” (2 Cor 11:28) Indeed, he was always thinking of them, and when away from them, he would write to the churches to encourage them. We see his genuine love for the Christians when he wrote, “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.” This is the kind of true pastoral leadership St Paul exhibited.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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