Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock,
for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and
give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an
inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For
where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.
“Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await
their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes
and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his
arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table,
and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third
watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants. Be
sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was
coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be
prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
Then Peter said, “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?”
And the Lord replied, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the
master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at
the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing
so. Truly, I say to you, the master will put the servant in charge of all his
property. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in
coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and
drink and get drunk, then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day
and at an unknown hour and will punish the servant severely and assign him a
place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master’s will but did not
make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; and
the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving
of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the
person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person
entrusted with more.”
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Reflection:
A generous rich man gave everything he had to charitable institutions and
to the poor near his affluent community. He practically did not own anything when he
died yet thousands upon thousands went to his wake. And the heavenly gates
immediately opened for him upon his death. Why? For the reason that he used his
wealth for the right purpose.
What is the purpose of your life in this world?
In the gospel Jesus counsels us to travel light in this world. What does
travelling light means? This simply means that we must not let ourselves be
attached with worldly possessions: be it power or wealth. Worldly possessions
come and go, it will leave us anytime or we will leave it anytime as well.
So, what is the use of accumulating these worldly things if we would
leave it anytime? In hindsight, can we bring along those material things when
we die? No we can’t we will leave it all in this world. Accumulation of worldly
possession is like chasing the wind, its meaningless and without purpose.
Instead of accumulating worldly possessions why not learn to give it all
away to those who are in need of it? When we learn to give we are actually
building our inexhaustible treasure in heaven.
So what happens when we imbibe the travel light journey in this world? We
are always prepared for the coming of the master that is Jesus. We are always
prepared for His judgment that may come to us anytime. In some ways this
judgment comes to us through our death.
When we die; we shall be face to face with our Lord and He shall ask us
this question. Were you a faithful and always prepared servant? – Marino J.
Dasmarinas
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