Be Ready!-HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF THE 21ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME AUGUST 2023

HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF THE 21ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

1Thess.3:7-13; Ps.90; Matthew 24:42-51

Be Ready!

Usually when examinations are drawing near, some teachers use different styles in giving the students hint on the kind of questions they should expect. Like such teacher, Jesus in today’s gospel reading, gives us hint on what our end will look like. The hint is that there will be no sign that the end is coming when it will come. The end, our end will come when every other thing seem to be going well and when the thought of the end hardly crosses the mind, then suddenly, it will come. So, Jesus advices that we should always be ready.

Jesus did not ask that we should be idle as we wait for death; he is not asking us to be enveloped with fear for that Day, he simply tells us to be ready. The end is not a calamity; rather, it is a necessary step for transition to eternity. When we are ready, the end becomes a visa to our eternal home. But how are we to be ready?

The gospel acclamation answers this question. To be ready means to be filled with the merciful love of God and to be consistent in showing this merciful love to others. Did Jesus not say that blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy?

In the first reading of today, St. Paul prayed that the Church in Thessalonica may grow and abound in their love for one another and to all men. St. Paul understood this to be the way to holiness of heart so that at the coming of Jesus Christ, we may be among the saints.

The wicked servant in the gospel is wicked because he did not deal mercifully with his fellow servants. He maltreated them and he feasted alone. Beloved, Jesus wants us to know today that how we treat others is key to our belongingness to heaven. A holy heart cannot but be merciful.