29th Week, Tuesday, Oct 24
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.
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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
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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
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Saint Anthony Mary Claret
Feast Day October 24
The well-liked Spanish priest Anthony Claret was the fifth of eleven children. His family was poor but hard working. Weaving was a family trade. Anthony’s earliest memories of home were the family’s praying the rosary and going to church. From this environment grew his deep love and devotion to Jesus and Mary.
By age twenty-one Anthony had been educated and was in much demand for his skill as a weaver. While suffering because of poor health, Anthony imagined himself as a Carthusian monk. He went to the bishop for advice. The bishop suggested that he first go to the diocesan seminary and then, if he wished, leave and become a monk. Anthony followed this advice and enjoyed seminary life.
Anthony was assigned as archbishop of Cuba. Not having had an archbishop for fourteen years, the island was in need of renewal. Anthony reorganized the seminary training, preached in all the churches, heard confessions, and guided people to Christ. He worked for updated farm methods and credit unions. He wanted the people to own their own farms, knowing that this would improve family life. He made enemies by teaching black slaves. Fifteen times people tried to assassinate him.
After eight years, Anthony was called to Spain to be Queen Isabella II’s confessor. He obeyed unhappily. He and the queen agreed that he would not live at the palace but come only to hear her confession and instruct her children. This freed him to open a religious publishing house and write more than two hundred books and pamphlets.
In 1886 a revolution took place, and those associated with the court fled to Rome where Vatican Council I was in session. There he defended the infallibility of the pope. Then he returned to a Cistercian monastery in France where he stayed in solitude until his death.
