29th Week, Tuesday, Oct 21
Romans 5:12, 15, 17-21 / Luke 12:35-38
Paul talks about sin; Through one man sin entered the world.
The great American storyteller John Steinbeck wrote in his novel East of Eden: “Two stories have haunted us and followed us from the beginning ... the story of original sin and the story of Cain and Abel. And I don't understand them at all, but I feel them in myself.” Each of us carries in our mind and our body the result of Adam's sin. We feel in ourselves a pull toward evil. This should not discourage us. For even though the pull is strong, we know that God's grace is stronger. And even when we sin, we shouldn't become discouraged, because God's mercy is always waiting with outstretched arms to receive us back.
***
How courageously do we resist temptation? "Sin is not hurtful because it is forbidden, but it is forbidden because it is hurtful.” Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard
***
We are one in our weaknesses, one also in God’s love and in the salvation he offers us in Christ in the solidarity of grace. Sinners and saints at the same time, the enemy in us and paradise within us, we long to be saved by Christ now, to transcend our doubts, our different forms of selfishness, our sufferings, our divisions within ourselves and our separations from one another. Yet it is in this kind of life, within this torn human destiny, that Christ will save us, if with him we accept his life and grace.
***
***
In the gospel Jesus exhorts his disciples to vigilance. They are like servants who should always be ready for the master’s call.
‘Stay awake’ seems to be a favourite theme in Jesus’ parables. Also, ‘be alert’, ‘be on your guard’, ‘be watchful’, are some expressions used in the Gospels, urging one to be ready at all times, because no one knows “the day or the hour” of the Master’s arrival. One must stay awake in “the evening, at midnight, at cock’s crow, or at dawn.” Being awake is not just being open-eyed, but having an open and alert mind. Those who are ready will enjoy the ‘wedding banquet’ (Mt. 25:10) served by the Master himself (Lk. 12:37). Be on your guard if you want to receive the heavenly reward!
***
If we have a good boss, a boss who takes care of us, sees to our well-being and our welfare, who is fair but firm, corrects us gently and helps us go learn and grow, then indeed we should be happy and thankful. Not only would we be happy and thankful, we would also want to do our best in our work. That is a way of showing our gratitude to a good boss.
In the gospel, Jesus talks about the attitude of servants who were waiting for their master's return from a wedding feast. They would be dressed for actions, with their lamps lit, and ready to open the door as soon as the master comes and knocks. The servants would have this attitude if they know that they have a good master, and hence they would be willing to stay awake and keep waiting, no matter how late into the night. And the master indeed is a good master, a master who would put on an apron, sit them down at the table and wait on them.
We may find it astonishing for a master to do this. But we may recall that at the Last Supper, Jesus got up from the table, wrapped a towel around His waist, took a basin of water and washed His disciples' feet. And when we think further about it, Jesus also willingly took up the cross and offered His life to cancel out our sins and to save us. Jesus is our Master and our Saviour. Let us realize how good He is to us. Let us be thankful and show our gratitude by serving Him with all our strength, with all our mind and with all our heart.
***
Prayer
Lord our God, we experience every day that we are a melting pot, at times a boiling pot, of courage and cowardice, of questions, hesitations, vulnerability, of selfishness and generosity, of sin and grace. God, grant that we may accept our solidarity in sin, to share the better our solidarity in the salvation, which comes to us through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen
***
Saint Hilarion
Feast Day October 21
Shortly after St. Hilarion’s death, St. Jerome wrote about the life of this hermit who had introduced monasticism into Palestine. Jerome told of Hilarion’s lifelong pursuit of solitude, where he could encounter God in prayer.
And he wrote about the divine irony of the fame that was denied it to him because his miracles attracted so many people. In this brief excerpt, Jerome describes Hilarion’s faith and a typical miracle:
Once . . . when he was eighteen years old, brigands tried to find him at night. Either they believed that he had something to steal or they thought he would scorn them if they didn’t intimidate him. . . . From evening till dawn, they hunted in every direction but couldn’t find him. In broad daylight, however, they came upon him and apparently as a joke asked him: “What would you do if robbers attacked you?” He answered: “A naked person does not fear robbers.” “You could be killed.” “I could,” he said. “But I am not afraid of robbers because I am ready to die.” Admiring his faith, they confessed their folly of the night before and their blindness and promised to reform their lives...
A woman of Eleutheropolis, despised by her husband of fifteen years because of her sterility, . . . was the first who dared to intrude upon blessed Hilarion’s solitude. While he was still unaware of her approach, she suddenly threw herself at his knees saying: “Forgive my boldness. . . ., he asked her why she had come and why she was weeping. When he learned the cause of her grief, raising his eyes to heaven, he commanded her to have faith and to believe. He followed her departure with tears. When a year had gone by, he saw her with her son.
Like Anthony, Hilarion took only a little food once a day at sunset. When tempted sexually, he ate even less. “I’ll see to it, you jackass,” he said, “that you shall not kick.” He never bathed nor changed his tunic until it wore out. He said, “It is idle to expect cleanliness in a hair shirt.” Jerome relates that even though Hilarion suffered extreme dryness of spirit, he persevered in prayer and cured many people of sickness and demon possession. The parade of petitioners and would-be disciples drove Hilarion to retire to more remote locations. But they followed him everywhere. First, he visited Anthony’s retreat in Egypt. Then he withdrew to Sicily, later to Dalmatia, and finally to Cyprus. He died there in 371.
Even for saints like Hilarion who steadfastly pursued God, life is a battle of wills. Hilarion desired solitude, believing it was God’s will for him. But God had other ideas and sent crowds to disrupt his aloneness. Before we get too far along on our journey, we need to check to see if we are following God’s roadmap, not our own. Or we may be like Yogi Berra, who once said, “We’re making good time, but we’re lost.”
