“Be ready.”
There are two words in today’s Gospel that deserve to remain with us long after the reading has ended: “Be ready.”
They are simple words, yet they reach into the deepest questions of human life. What are we living for? What are we doing with the time God has placed in our hands? If Christ were to call us today, would He find us living as His faithful disciples?
Jesus says:
“Watch, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”
The Lord is not trying to frighten His disciples. He is teaching them how precious life is. Because our earthly life has an end, every day matters. Because Christ will come again, our choices have eternal significance. Because we do not know the hour, the proper time for conversion is always now.
Christian watchfulness is therefore not a life of anxiety. It is a life of faithfulness.
“Watch, for you do not know”
We spend much of our lives preparing. For examinations, careers, weddings, journeys, retirement and countless other events. We save money for tomorrow. We make appointments. We plan where we will live and what we hope to accomplish. There is wisdom in such preparation.
Yet Christ asks us today whether we are giving the same attention to the one meeting that no human being can avoid: our meeting with God.
The Christian knows that earthly life is a pilgrimage. We were created by God, redeemed by Christ and called toward eternal communion with Him. Death, therefore, is not the destruction of the Christian’s hope. Nor should thoughts of death lead us into despair. Christ has conquered death through His Cross and Resurrection.
But Scripture repeatedly reminds us that our earthly lives are limited. We do not know how many y ears we still have in our lives or what tomorrow will bring. We do not know the hour when the Lord will call us.
And so Jesus says: Watch.
Not because God wants frightened children constantly looking over their shoulders, but because He wants sons and daughters who understand the value of the present moment.
Being Ready Does Not Mean Predicting the End
Throughout history, people have tried to calculate when Christ will return. Jesus gives us no encouragement for such speculation. His message is not, “Discover the date.” His message is:
“Be ready.”
There is an important difference. A person obsessed with predicting the end may spend enormous energy watching world events while neglecting the state of his own soul.
Christ directs our attention somewhere much closer.
- How am I living today?
- Am I in friendship with God?
- Is there a serious sin I continually refuse to abandon?
- Is there someone I need to forgive?
- Have I neglected Confession for years because I am ashamed to return?
- Have I allowed prayer to disappear from my life?
- Have I received God’s blessings without remembering the poor?
- Do the people closest to me encounter Christ through the way I treat them?
These questions prepare us for the coming of the Lord far more than speculation about dates and signs. The Christian who lives faithfully does not need to know the hour. He or She is already waiting for Christ.
The Thief in the Night
Jesus gives His disciples a striking image. If the owner of a house knew exactly when a thief was coming, he would remain awake and protect his household.
The difficulty is precisely that he does not know. Christ uses this image not because His coming is evil, but because it will be unexpected and this reveals something about human nature. We often postpone what matters.
- “I will pray more when life becomes less busy.”
- “I will return to Mass eventually.”
- “I will go to Confession another time.”
- “One day I will forgive him.”
- “When I have more money, I will become generous.”
- “When I am older, I will take my relationship with God seriously.”
But how much life can disappear while we wait for “one day”? Christian conversion cannot be continually postponed to a tomorrow that has never been promised to us.
God gives us today, Today we can pray, we can forgive, we can confess our sins, we can reconcile with someone, we can feed someone who is hungry, we can tell our families that we love them and we can begin again with God.
Grace meets us in the present moment.
The Faithful and Wise Servant
Jesus then moves from the image of watchfulness to the image of stewardship. He describes a servant whose master has placed him in charge of the household.
What makes the servant blessed? Not that he stands at the door staring into the distance or that he spends every hour wondering when the master will return.
Jesus says:
“Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing.”
This is one of the most beautiful descriptions of Christian readiness.
The servant is ready because he is faithfully doing what he has been entrusted to do.
For most Christians, holiness will be lived precisely this way.
- A mother caring patiently for her children is preparing for eternity.
- A father honestly providing for his family is preparing for eternity.
- A nurse caring tenderly for a suffering patient is preparing for eternity.
- A student refusing dishonesty even when cheating would be easy is preparing for eternity.
- An employer treating workers justly is preparing for eternity.
- A young person resisting temptation because he or she loves Christ is preparing for eternity.
- A person quietly caring for an elderly parent is preparing for eternity.
- A Christian kneeling before God at the end of an exhausting day and whispering a sincere prayer is preparing for eternity.
We do not have to escape ordinary life to find God. We must allow God to enter ordinary life.
Everything We Have Is Entrusted to Us
The servant in Christ’s parable does not own the household. He has been entrusted with it. This is also true of us. Our lives, talents, families, possessions, intelligence, health, opportunities and influence are gifts, even time itself is a gift.
Christian stewardship begins when we stop asking only, “What belongs to me?” and begin asking, “Lord, what do You want me to do with what You have entrusted to me?”
The person with authority must ask how that authority serves others. The person with wealth must remember those who have little. The person with knowledge must use it for truth. The person with influence must not use it to manipulate. Parents have been entrusted with children who ultimately belong to God. Priests have been entrusted with souls. Public officials have been entrusted with the common good.
Every Christian has received something from God that is meant, in some way, to become a blessing for others and at the end of life, we leave everything behind except what we have become before God.
When the Master Seems Delayed
Jesus then describes another servant. This servant begins well enough, but something changes when he thinks:
“My master is delayed.”
That thought becomes dangerous. Once the servant convinces himself that the master is far away, he begins abusing his fellow servants and living for himself. Here Jesus exposes one of the oldest temptations of the human heart: living as though God were absent.
We may never say aloud, “God does not see me.” Yet sometimes we behave as though He does not.
When dishonesty appears profitable, when nobody seems likely to discover an affair, when corruption offers an advantage, when pornography is hidden behind a private screen, when cruelty occurs behind closed doors, when money becomes more important than conscience, the temptation whispers:
“No one will know.”
But Christian morality is not based merely upon whether other people are watching.
God is present and this truth is not merely a warning. It is also an extraordinary consolation. When nobody sees your sacrifice, God sees it. When nobody appreciates your faithfulness, God knows it. When doing what is right costs you something, God remembers it and when you quietly care for someone who cannot repay you, heaven is not indifferent. The hidden life matters to God.
“At an hour you do not expect”
These words become particularly powerful when we remember how suddenly life can change.
- A telephone call can alter a family forever.
- A diagnosis can rearrange our priorities.
- A person may leave home in the morning without knowing that the day will be unlike any other.
We know these things, yet we easily live as though time were unlimited. The Gospel calls us back to reality, but it does so with hope. If today were our final day, what unfinished spiritual business would trouble us?
- Perhaps there is someone we have refused to forgive.
- Perhaps years have passed since our last good Confession.
- Perhaps we have gradually stopped attending Sunday Mass.
- Perhaps our family has everything except prayer.
- Perhaps we have been postponing reconciliation with God.
Then today’s Gospel is not bad news. It is mercy. We have been given another day, another opportunity to return, another opportunity to love and another opportunity to begin again.
The Sacraments Prepare Us for Eternity
Catholic readiness is not simply a matter of trying harder to behave well. We need grace. Christ knows our weakness, and He has not abandoned us to prepare for eternity by our own strength.
He gives Himself to us through His Church. In Baptism, we are made children of God, in Confession, Christ restores us when sin has wounded or destroyed our communion with Him and in the Holy Eucharist, the Lord whom we await comes already among us sacramentally and gives Himself as food for our pilgrimage.
This gives special meaning to every celebration of the Mass. At the Eucharist, the Church remembers Christ’s death, celebrates His risen presence and looks toward His return in glory.
We proclaim:
“We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again.”
Every Mass therefore contains something of today’s Gospel:
- Christ has come.
- Christ is present.
- Christ will come again.
And His people wait for Him not with empty hands but with hearts nourished by His Body and Blood.
Do Not Be Afraid to Meet Christ
Thinking about judgment can make some people afraid.
There is indeed a seriousness to Christ’s words that should never be softened into meaninglessness. Human freedom is real. Sin has consequences. Scripture teaches judgment, heaven and hell because our choices genuinely matter.
But the Judge whom the Christian will meet is not a stranger. He is Jesus Christ, the One who searched for sinners, the One who forgave Peter, the One who welcomed the repentant thief, the One who allowed His Sacred Heart to be pierced for us and the One whose hands still bear the wounds of the Cross.
The purpose of Christian vigilance is not to spend life terrified of Christ’s arrival but to love Him so deeply that we desire to be found faithful when He comes.
What If Christ Came Today?
Perhaps this is the question today’s Gospel leaves with us.
If Christ came today, what would He find?
Would He find us praying?
Would He find us serving?
Would He find us forgiving?
Would He find us caring for the people He placed in our lives?
Would He find us faithfully carrying the responsibilities entrusted to us?
Or would He find us continually postponing conversion?
We cannot change yesterday. Tomorrow belongs to God but today has been placed into our hands and holiness is built from such days.
One prayer, one act of forgiveness, one temptation resisted, one hungry person fed, one honest decision, one Rosary prayed, one Confession made, one Eucharist received with faith, one person treated with dignity and one more sincere yes to God.
This is how a Christian watches, waits and becomes ready. Whether Christ comes tonight, many years from now, or at the end of the age, may He find us where His faithful servant was found:
Doing the good He entrusted to us.
May the deepest desire of our lives be that when our earthly pilgrimage is complete, we may stand before Christ not as strangers encountering one another for the first time, but as friends finally meeting face to face.
Let us Pray
Lord Jesus Christ,
You have commanded us to watch and to be ready,
for we know neither the day nor the hour
when You will call us into Your presence.
Keep our hearts awake in faith
and preserve us from becoming careless in sin.
Teach us to use faithfully
the time, talents and responsibilities
You have entrusted to us.
When we have wandered from You,
give us the humility to return.
When we have sinned,
lead us to repentance and reconciliation.
When we become discouraged,
strengthen us with Your grace.
May we recognize You in the poor,
serve You in our brothers and sisters,
receive You worthily in the Holy Eucharist,
and remain faithful to You
in the ordinary duties of each day.
Grant that when You come,
You may find us watching, praying and serving,
with lamps burning brightly
and hearts filled with love for You.
And when our earthly pilgrimage is ended,
bring us into the joy of Your eternal Kingdom,
where with the Father and the Holy Spirit
You live and reign,
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.