Keeping Watch

Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a kingdom. Sell what you possess and give alms. Make to yourselves bags which grow not old, a treasure in heaven which faileth not: where no thief approacheth, nor moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let your loins be girt, and lamps burning in your hands.

And you yourselves like to men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh, shall find watching. Amen I say to you, that he will gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and passing will minister unto them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But this know ye, that if the householder did know at what hour the thief would come, he would surely watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open. Be you then also ready: for at what hour you think not, the Son of man will come.

And Peter said to him: Lord, dost thou speak this parable to us, or likewise to all? And the Lord said: Who (thinkest thou) is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord setteth over his family, to give them their measure of wheat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom when his lord shall come, he shall find so doing. Verily I say to you, he will set him over all that he possesseth. But if that servant shall say in his heart: My lord is long a coming; and shall begin to strike the menservants and maidservants, and to eat and to drink and be drunk:

The lord of that servant will come in the day that he hopeth not, and at the hour that he knoweth not, and shall separate him, and shall appoint him his portion with unbelievers. And that servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more.
Luke 12:32-48 (Douay-Rheims)

Prayer

Dear Father how often we fail this message by not keeping our hearts prepared. How often do we receive the sacrament of penance, to empty ourselves of useless anxiety and grievous sins. Sometimes I think of serving people waiting on customers or those who keep houses clean and-so-forth, how they don't know when their master will return or when a customer will come to dine. Same when we shop and enter a store and find those who wait on us lounging around doing nothing. Are they just as prepared for when the boss appears doing what they should be doing. It is understandable in this light why companies or bosses seek to have their employees kept busy. It is twofold in a sense, one they are paying them to stay busy, and the other can be regarded in the same way as the Gospel message has been passed down through time. How in the work force it seems to come to light. We work in a way that is vigilant, where we know not when the boss will appear and see us either working or goofing off. How working makes a difference rather than being caught not doing so. In this sense we too must keep ourselves prepared with what we have been given to help us. The sacraments are the tools that we use to keep us prepared. When Jesus comes knocking on the door of our heart, will he find us ready? Dear Father may we keep the light of our souls bright and clear. May we seek out the sacraments that purify us and keep us prepared.