Prior Fr. Joel’s Homily:
1 Thessalonians 3:7–13
Matthew 24:42–51
In our weekday reading of Matthew’s Gospel, we suddenly find ourselves confronted with something of the Advent theme. We find we are standing in front of the reality that Jesus is coming again. We also find that it is one case where we need to be an agnostic. We simply do not know when this coming of the Master and Lord will be. And guessing is not the way to approach this situation.
We need to be honest and admit that the coming of Jesus does not really impinge on our daily lives. Who of us thinks of it? We hear it mentioned in the Eucharistic prayer and in the prayer that follows the Our Father in the Eucharist. We profess it in our creed each Sunday. But saying it is one thing. Having it effect us is mostly quite distant from us.
There are two tasks in front us is response to the proclamation of the Lord’s coming. The first is watchfulness or vigilance. Stay Awake, Jesus says. These are the same words Jesus asks of his chosen disciples as he begins to pray in Gethsemane. He is preparing himself to face death and he asks the disciples to stay awake and be with him. But vigilance, watchfulness or even mindfulness is an essential element in our lives. We are not meant to drift through life. Probably even more difficult for those of us whose lives are very routine. We just fall into the routine. But vigilance means being alert, being aware of what is happening. It would mean then knowing our priorities, what is essential. Vigilance comes with making choices.
This leads to the second task Jesus puts in front of us. Yes, the master is taking a long time coming. We can verify that after 2000 years. What are we supposed to do with all this waiting time? What does our attentiveness look like. Pope Francis is very clear that the long wait easily evolves into complacency. We don’t care any more. Situations are happening around us and we don’t see them anymore, whether they are bad or good. For example, people are migrating and being displaced. Who is asking why is this happening? What is bringing this about? What does this movement ask of us?
To check our attitude Jesus puts in front of us the image of a servant, actually a slave. We might find this image of the servant repulsive. But if we stay with the image, we find out that it is really about responsibility and entrustment. We are not empty handed as we wait. We are entrusted with much to care for and look after. How are we doing with that? Waiting for the master to come is not an empty time. There is the possibility that we can abuse what we have been entrusted with. The biggest abuse can be in thinking we possess it in some exclusive way. The what we think we possess can be as big as the created world, nature and the universe. It can be as intimate as personal relationships. It can be a small as the simple things that make up my everyday life. In any case, we are challenged to how we respond. We can either possess and use up, or we can care for the gift and make sure that it is passed on for others. The good servant knows that he is responsible for what gift he or she has been given. It is always for others. The good servant’s power lies in caring and observing and then acting. The good servant is awake and listening.
Thinking about Jesus coming again is not about daydreaming when will he come. It seems that it is an opportunity to be focused on my relationship with the present. If Jesus does not seem to come, maybe it is because we have not recognized the ways he is coming. Or maybe we have not yet learned the discipline of caring and sharing what was entrusted to us. When we have learned how to care for what God has entrusted to us, then Jesus can come and gather us together and present us to his Father. Until then we are to watch for and over all that he has gifted us. Our task: being responsible for what is gift, what is grace.
~Prior, Fr. Joel Macul, OSB