25-Aug-16

Gospel MT 24:42-51

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
Be sure of this:
if the master of the house
had known the hour of night when the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake
and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.
“Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant,
whom the master has put in charge of his household
to distribute to them their food at the proper time?
Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so.
Amen, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property.
But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is long delayed,’
and begins to beat his fellow servants,
and eat and drink with drunkards,
the servant’s master will come on an unexpected day
and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely
and assign him a place with the hypocrites,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”
Reflection:
Jesus tells us to "stay awake."
I've been getting that advice for my entire life.
In fourth grade I had the habit of looking out the window and day dreaming about what I was going to do with my buddies once school was out.
I would be startled out of my imaginary adventure by Mrs. Nash's shrill voice, "Jimmy Orcutt! Wake up!"
If I was fresh to my mother, my brother Smokey, who was 13 years older than me, would give me a warning, "Watch your mouth or I'm going to give you a wake up call."
Now, many years later, I find I still need to "stay awake."
I can easily lapse into the habit of forgetting that I am charged by Christ to be a "faithful servant."
When doing food deliveries to the poor, I can "fall asleep" and find myself simply setting the food on the table and saying, "Have a nice day."
I can be "asleep" to our mission, "to bring the love and hope of Jesus Christ to those we serve."
I constantly need to remind myself to "stay awake," to remember that "We carry furniture and food but we deliver hope."
Yesterday I was "awake."
Three first time volunteers from Stonehill College joined me on food deliveries.
I explained, "We need to enter each home and introduce ourselves. Look around the home for opportunities to engage the person in conversation. Ask about the people in the pictures on their walls. Comment on how nice they keep their home. Remember, we are not here to simply deliver food. We are here to bring God's love and hope. If we are successful, we will receive love and hope in return."
We were successful.
A second floor delivery to Anna, a woman in her 70's, was particularly delightful. We spent 15 minutes laughing and joking, and Anna hugged each of us before we left.
As I often do upon leaving a delivery, I said, "Ok guys, huddle up. Now, for the tenth time, tell me what you learned that makes for a successful delivery?"
In unison the students responded with the answer I was hoping for: "That we have such a good time with the family we're serving that everyone has forgotten all about the food we just delivered."
"Often, the answer to our prayers does not come while we are on our knees but while we're on our feet serving the Lord and serving those around us." - - Dieter F. Uchtdorf