This Gospel has a sense of urgency to it. We are to remain alert and prepared for the enemy is always trying to trap us. From 1 Peter: “Be watchful for your opponent the devil is like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
And so two metaphors are given at the start of this Gospel to make us see the need to stay alert and prepared. “Let your loins be girded and your lamps kept burning.” A Jew would tuck their flowing garment into a belt before they would go on a journey or do certain types of work. To do this is to be found alert and prepared for that which may give rise. For someone who is on guard or waiting for someone to arrive a lamp must be kept burning. With a burning lamp they were found alert and prepared for anything which may cross their path including the arrival of the one for whom they await.
Therefore, we too must stay alert and prepared. We know that the one for whom we await is the Christ. We await to receive Him through Sacred Scripture which reveals Him unto us. We await to receive Him in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar where He comes to nourish us under the presence of His Body and Blood. Even as we say when I chant “The mystery of faith,” “Until you come again.” This is to say that we joyfully await the time when Christ will come again at end of time.
Therefore, my dear brethren, may we realize the urgency of our Gospel message. We are not walking around this world without purpose or meaning, but instead we are to direct our sight towards the coming of Christ who continues to reveal Himself unto us. There are many distractions which give rise within our life which attempt to detract us from this reality. It is easy to lose sight of Christ and thus to allow ourself to wonder away from Him as we get lost living life without a purpose. Instead we must be found alert and prepared for the coming of Christ and thus the Church gives us everything that we need in order to make this a reality.
Christ established the gift which is the Church and thus the Church has the mission to save souls and to lead them towards Christ. To assist them in being found alert and prepared for the coming of the Christ. The Church assists us through the gifts of the sacraments. The seven sacraments are not seven suggestions made by a man made institution, but rather they are seven gifts which were established by Christ Himself. Gifts which impart grace upon the receiver. If we chase after passions, possessions, belongings, etc. we are kept off guard and thus need to reorient our life towards Christ and towards sanctifying grace, the grace which is necessary if we are to be found alert and prepared for Heaven.
Therefore go to confession and let what has been hurt by sin be healed through Christ’s saving mercy. Therefore come unto the altar of God without the state of serious sin upon your soul and receive the nourishment that Christ desires to pour out upon you. Therefore join together as a family to study scripture, the Catechism, and to pray in order that family life may foster this desire to be found alert and prepared.
