by Fr. Tommy Lane
Last Sunday we heard Jesus urging to store up treasure in heaven rather than being rich in what does not matter to God (Luke 13:12-21). Today Jesus urges us to be ready for the time when he will call us from this life, to be ready like the servants in the parable awaiting their master returning (Luke 12:32-48). How do we make sure we are ready? By living our life with God and Our Lady. By living the commandments. By praying every day, going to confession regularly, living an upright life. We could sum it up by saying we will be ready for Jesus’ call by loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves.
Above all, we love God by meeting Jesus in the Eucharist. The really strange thing in Jesus’ parable is that when the master returns, it is he, the master, who feeds his servants, not the servants who feed him. Everything is reversed (the parable begins with the servants being asked to gird themselves, but when the master returns he girds himself to serve them; Luke 12:35, 37). When we come to Mass, we are like those servants waiting for Jesus our master. We come here to praise him, and then the role is reversed: Jesus feeds us with himself in the Eucharist.
That reversal of roles, Jesus feeding us when we come to praise him, reminds me of part of a letter by St. Thérèse of Lisieux to missionaries (Letter 7) She wrote that Jesus’ heart is thrilled with all those who truly love him and who after each little fault go to him asking his forgiveness. Jesus rejoices over them like the father in the parable who rejoiced over his prodigal son returning and said to put a ring on his finger (Luke 15:11-32). The love of Jesus for us is so little known, she wrote. To recognize his love for us, what is needed is humility, realizing our nothingness and this is why most fail to get to know the love of Jesus for us, she wrote. Just as Jesus feeds us when we come here to praise him, when we go to him asking for his forgiveness, St. Thérèse said, he says to the angels to put a ring on our finger!
One of the ways we are ready for the time when Jesus will call us is by making prayer an important part of every day. Some are called to do this in a special way: the monks in monasteries and the nuns in cloistered convents—for example, the Cistercians, the Benedictines, the Poor Clares, and the Carmelites, among others, all of whom are no more than about 90 minutes from here. Five or seven times each day they gather in their chapel for community prayer as well as Mass. Each time they gather for prayer, their prayer consists of singing three psalms, following by a reading from Sacred Scripture and other prayers. Some of these monasteries around the world livestream their chapels so others can join them online in these moments of prayer. If you are ever organizing a day out or a tour, perhaps you might consider visiting one of these monasteries or cloistered convents to join in their prayer or Mass. Some of them have guesthouses with meals provided where you could stay to spend some quiet time with the Lord. If going with a group, it would be good to arrange it in advance so a monk or nun could give an explanation of their life and what they do and arrange a meal in advance if they have a guesthouse. Three Sundays ago, we heard about Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet when he visited the house. These monks and nuns have received a special call to sit at Jesus’ feet spending hours each day in chapel singing Psalms and praying Sacred Scripture. Their prayers for us help us in ways that we cannot see now, but will, I am sure, in the next life. They are answering their special call to sit at Jesus’ feet in that way but all of us are called to sit at Jesus’ feet in prayer every day. Doing so is one of the ways to be ready for the time when Jesus will call us to himself.
Today Jesus urges us to be ready for the time when he will call us from this life, like the servants in the parable awaiting their master. When we come to Mass, like those servants we wait for Jesus, we come here to praise him, and then the role is reversed: Jesus feeds us with himself in the Eucharist. The same happens when we ask Jesus for his forgiveness. St. Thérèse of Lisieux wrote that Jesus’ heart is thrilled with all those who truly love him and who after each little fault go to him asking his forgiveness. Jesus rejoices over them like the father in the parable rejoiced over his prodigal son returning and Jesus says to the angels to put a ring on our finger!
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2022
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.