“BE like servants who await their
master’s return from a
wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.” (Lk
12,36) With these words, it’s clear that Christ wants us to be on the
watch for the second coming of Christ at the end of time, or at our
death.
We have to remember that our life here on earth is only
transitory, not permanent, and its purpose is for us to make a choice
of whether we are for God or for ourselves only. The world is a place
of trial for us.
God our Creator wants us to be with him. That’s how he has
created us. But he does not impose that will of his. We also have to
make our choice to want to be with him. It’s a free choice.
That’s why our first parents who were created in the state
of original justice, in the state of grace, were not immediately
brought to heaven where they could be with God in a definitive way,
but were placed in Paradise first to be tested, to see if they also
want to be with God.
We already know what happened in that stage. And yet in
spite of that blunder, God continues to love us by sending his Son to
us for our redemption. That Son is Christ who shows us the way of how
to handle our predicament to recover our lost dignity.
This time he shows us what to do. We have to follow him by
denying ourselves, carry the cross and follow him all the way to his
death, such that our death should be a participation of Christ’s death
on the cross. Our over-all attitude towards our earthly life should be
shaped by what Christ has told and shown us, by what our faith tells
us. It has to be an attitude that is theological, not merely social,
or cultural, or political, etc.
In this business of denying ourselves since we have to
follow Christ, we are told to be detached from the things of this
world. This is made very clear with these words of Christ: “Sell your
possessions, and give alms. Provide yourselves with purses that do not
grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no
thief approaches and no moth destroys.” (Lk 12,33)
This does not mean that we should have no earthly
possessions at all. We will always need things in this world, but
seeing to it that these things do not become a god for us, but rather
as means to love God and everybody else.
This truth is presumed when Christ told his apostles:
“‘When I sent you out with no purse or bag or sandals, did you lack
anything?’ They said, ‘Nothing.’ He said to them, ‘But now, let him
who has a purse take it, and likewise a bag. And let him who has no
sword sell his mantle and buy one.’”
In other words, we should not have superfluous things,
creating needs that are really not needs, and thereby generating
attachments that can be a hindrance in one’s relation with God and
with others.
Together with this call to detachment, Christ is telling
us to be fruitful in this life. “Much will be required of the person
entrusted with much,” he said, “and still more will be demanded of the
person entrusted with more.” (Lk 12,48)
It’s a call to generosity that he has reiterated many
times, like in the parable of the talents, for example, as well as in
the parables of sower and the seed, the tenants in the vineyard, and
the different images he taught about the Kingdom of God. We need to
trade and make a gain and an increase of what we have received from
God.
And then we have to be generous in our self-giving.
“Without cost you have received,” Christ said. “Without cost you are
to give.” (Mt 10,8) With these words, we are told to give ourselves
completely to God and to others, sparing and keeping nothing for
ourselves, because God has been generous with us, and he will always
provide everything that we need.
Our fruitfulness will depend on our proper detachment from
things so we can be filled with nothing else than God himself and his
power, wisdom and all other good things in abundance.
It’s a fruitfulness that creates a treasure in heaven,
“where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.” This is where our
true joy and fulfillment lies. Let’s not be deceived by the worldly
standards and criteria of fruitfulness and real treasure.
wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.” (Lk
12,36) With these words, it’s clear that Christ wants us to be on the
watch for the second coming of Christ at the end of time, or at our
death.
We have to remember that our life here on earth is only
transitory, not permanent, and its purpose is for us to make a choice
of whether we are for God or for ourselves only. The world is a place
of trial for us.
God our Creator wants us to be with him. That’s how he has
created us. But he does not impose that will of his. We also have to
make our choice to want to be with him. It’s a free choice.
That’s why our first parents who were created in the state
of original justice, in the state of grace, were not immediately
brought to heaven where they could be with God in a definitive way,
but were placed in Paradise first to be tested, to see if they also
want to be with God.
We already know what happened in that stage. And yet in
spite of that blunder, God continues to love us by sending his Son to
us for our redemption. That Son is Christ who shows us the way of how
to handle our predicament to recover our lost dignity.
This time he shows us what to do. We have to follow him by
denying ourselves, carry the cross and follow him all the way to his
death, such that our death should be a participation of Christ’s death
on the cross. Our over-all attitude towards our earthly life should be
shaped by what Christ has told and shown us, by what our faith tells
us. It has to be an attitude that is theological, not merely social,
or cultural, or political, etc.
In this business of denying ourselves since we have to
follow Christ, we are told to be detached from the things of this
world. This is made very clear with these words of Christ: “Sell your
possessions, and give alms. Provide yourselves with purses that do not
grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no
thief approaches and no moth destroys.” (Lk 12,33)
This does not mean that we should have no earthly
possessions at all. We will always need things in this world, but
seeing to it that these things do not become a god for us, but rather
as means to love God and everybody else.
This truth is presumed when Christ told his apostles:
“‘When I sent you out with no purse or bag or sandals, did you lack
anything?’ They said, ‘Nothing.’ He said to them, ‘But now, let him
who has a purse take it, and likewise a bag. And let him who has no
sword sell his mantle and buy one.’”
In other words, we should not have superfluous things,
creating needs that are really not needs, and thereby generating
attachments that can be a hindrance in one’s relation with God and
with others.
Together with this call to detachment, Christ is telling
us to be fruitful in this life. “Much will be required of the person
entrusted with much,” he said, “and still more will be demanded of the
person entrusted with more.” (Lk 12,48)
It’s a call to generosity that he has reiterated many
times, like in the parable of the talents, for example, as well as in
the parables of sower and the seed, the tenants in the vineyard, and
the different images he taught about the Kingdom of God. We need to
trade and make a gain and an increase of what we have received from
God.
And then we have to be generous in our self-giving.
“Without cost you have received,” Christ said. “Without cost you are
to give.” (Mt 10,8) With these words, we are told to give ourselves
completely to God and to others, sparing and keeping nothing for
ourselves, because God has been generous with us, and he will always
provide everything that we need.
Our fruitfulness will depend on our proper detachment from
things so we can be filled with nothing else than God himself and his
power, wisdom and all other good things in abundance.
It’s a fruitfulness that creates a treasure in heaven,
“where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.” This is where our
true joy and fulfillment lies. Let’s not be deceived by the worldly
standards and criteria of fruitfulness and real treasure.
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