THURSDAY, TWENTY FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Memorial of Saint Augustine
1 Thes 3:7-13 Ps 90:3-5,12-14,17 Mt 24:42-51
TEND THE FLAME
One evening, as Brother Thomas walked the cloisters in quiet prayer, he noticed an old lamp flickering beside the statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. He paused and gently fixed the wick. “It is a small thing,” he thought, “but let no flame die while I am here to tend it.” In the Gospel, Jesus warns: “Be you also ready, because at what hour you know not the Son of man will come.” Readiness is a daily tending of our spiritual lamp through hidden, faithful acts of love.
To live prepared is to live with awareness that the ‘now’ is sacred. Holiness is not found in waiting for a perfect hour but in being present and faithful in the now, be it in the kitchen, at the desk, or in the family’s chaos. Someone may say, “I will repent tomorrow. I will pray more when I have time.” But what if the Master comes tonight? Like the man guarding his house, would we not watch if we knew the thief’s hour? Jesus calls us to vigilance not from fear but from love, to a readiness born from relationship. St. John of the Cross wrote, “In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone.” Not on success, not on comfort, not even on how much we accomplished, but how much we loved, how often we served, and whether we lived as servants feeding the household in due time.
Hence, ask yourself: if Christ came today, would He find you tending your lamp, or asleep in comfort? Would He find you feeding others with kindness, patience, prayer, or indulging in your own lives? The time is unknown, but the call is clear. Be the faithful servant, not out of fear, but because love is too precious to postpone. Tend the flame. Now is the hour.
Response: Fill us with your merciful love, O Lord, and we shall exult.
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