Sunday the 10th of August 2025 - The Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Wisdom 18:6-9/ Ps 33(32)/ Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-12/ Luke 12:35-40

We are all encouraged to plan for the future, to plan for things we know are going to happen and for those things that might happen or are unlikely to occur but if they do will cause us great difficulties, the ‘what ifs’ of life. We buy insurance policies, some we need by law, others out of concern for what might happen and others to give us peace of mind. We know we are going to retire and if possible, we try to ensure sufficient funds to provide a reasonable lifestyle after our working life is over. We are encouraged by the funeral business to plan and pay for funerals years before we anticipate our death, we save for holidays or those special occasions, and we work hard to pay off our mortgages and debts before our sources of income dry up. Having put much effort into preparing for those things we know will happen but also many others that might not we can neglect to consider preparing for something that we know is inevitable, our death and passing into eternal life. Of course, we do not wish to be morbid and become obsessed with death but we must appreciate the inevitability of it and prepare for it as best we can. The readings today call for us to take seriously our faith in trusting God’s promises and be vigilant in preparing to meet God as our judge and redeemer, not in some far-off time at the end of the world but at our own death which is never more than a lifetime away. Trust in and faithfulness to God’s will for us is the best insurance policy we can have in the face of the inevitable end to this life.

In the first reading we hear of the faith of the Hebrew people suffering slavery in Egypt and their expectant hope in their deliverance to freedom in a promised land. Their faith gave them the trust they had in God’s promise, and this gave them hope while suffering the adversity of slavery. They prepared for and awaited the promised release from captivity. The second reading is an extract from the Letter to the Hebrews containing the only definition of what faith is to appear in scripture in the words, ‘Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen’. Our faith should give us the guarantee of the eternal life we hope for even if we have not seen or experienced it yet. The example is given of how the ancestors of the Hebrews achieved many things through their faith. In the Gospel Jesus gives us the challenge to trust in the promise of eternal happiness in the Kingdon of God the Father and to be always prepared for his coming. The Son of Man, a term Jesus used to refer to himself, will return at an unexpected hour. It has been two thousand years of waiting. The early church expected Jesus to return very soon, even in a lifetime, but even though he has not yet returned in the glory he promised that return remains imminent and will be fulfilled. What is more important for us as individuals is that we will face Jesus in whatever state of preparedness or otherwise when we die, that is also imminent and much more so than the ending of creation.

Jesus used two parables to highlight the need to be constantly prepared for his return. In the first Jesus calls us to be always ready like a servant awaiting the arrival of the master returning from a wedding feast. It is certain he will return but because wedding feasts were known for going on for days the precise hour of his return was uncertain. They must always be ready, no matter what time of day or night, to open the door when the master knocks. Jesus then turns convention upside down by saying that if the master did find his servants ready and waiting it would be him who dresses for service and waits on them. This is an amazing thought, the promise we have that when we are admitted to the Kingdom Jesus will be there to serve us as we should be serving others in this life. This is the service that Jesus taught us by his life death, and resurrection.

In the second parable of the thief breaking through the wall of the house we are called to be on our guard against the ultimate thief, the devil, who is constantly seeking to steal the treasure of our divine grace through the temptations we encounter in this world. This divine grace is our greatest treasure because it gives us the relationship we have with God. It is not a question of if the thief will come but when, we must be constantly vigilant for the temptations of the thief but also ready for the return of the master. We need to be ready for the return of Jesus which could be at any moment. This is not an anxious type of waiting such as we feel in a doctor’s waiting room or before a job interview, or an examination. It is about living our faith in every moment as if that moment may be the one when we meet Jesus face to face.

We must be vigilant servants showing our faith by what we believe rather than what we see around us. We must put all our trust in God even when his assurance of the promised land seems far off or impossible. Whatever life here might throw at us we can be assured through faith of the promise that God has prepared a place for us in his kingdom. We must try to remain vigilant, ready to meet our Lord and God whenever that call comes.

God Bless Brendan.