You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come

 

Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Wednesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB

In our Gospel for today the Lord is encouraging us to live out our lives in readiness for His eventual 2^nd coming. This could be either the end times when the Lord comes at the end of the world, or the day when we eventually meat the Lord at the end of our lives. Jesus is calling us to live a live a life with Him as the center of who we are, always doing His Holy Will by how we follow Him and the Commandments of God and the precepts of the Church. He’s calling us to follow Him joyfully, always knowing that he’s present to us in all we do. He’s not attempting to scare us into doing the right thing in how we live our lives. He’s just reminding us to continue to love God with our whole being.

We are called to be faithful and prudent servants, living out our lives knowing that God is ever present to us. We, as faithful and prudent servants, are called to have God as the center of who we are. We are to love God always and to love those in our lives.

In our lives we are called to the regular use of the Sacraments, by receiving Holy Communion often, and by the regular use of confession for the times when we may have fallen short. In the gospel, the Lord points out the way of life of those who have turned away from the ways of God. They mistreat other people; they eat and drink to the point of excess and being drunk. These are ways of living the Lord is encouraging us to avoid. But if we do fall short, the Lord is there for us in the Sacrament of Confession to receive his forgiveness and love.

So, as we approach the end of the year 2024, let us always remember to keep the Lord ever in the center of our Lives, and remember that even though we may not know when we will meet the Lord face-to-face, we will be ready to face Him with Love and gratitude for the love he has for us.