Daily Mass Gospel Reflection- Divine Prepping

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | Bishop Robert Barron

[MurphsLaw]

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Luke 12:32–48

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus urges us to be ready for his Second Coming.
It reminds me of John the Baptist preparing us: “Make straight the way of the Lord.”
He is saying that his job is to prepare for the mighty coming of the Lord.
A change is coming, a revolution is on the way,
a disaster (the destruction of the old) is about to happen.
Prepare the way of the Lord.

And what is the manner of preparation?
It is a baptism of repentance.
Baptism—an immersion in water—reminded first-century Jews of the Exodus,
passing through the Red Sea, leaving the ways of slavery behind.

And repentance (metanoia)—going beyond the mind that you have.
How our minds are conditioned by the fallen world!
How our expectations are shaped, stunted by what has gone before.
The world of Tiberius and Pilate and Herod and Caiaphas has shaped our imagination.
It’s time, John is saying, for a new mind, a new set of eyes, a new kind of expectation.
God is about to act!

Be ready!

[MurphsLaw]

+++Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not be afraid any longer, little flock,
for your Father is pleased to give
you the kingdom.
Sell your belongings and give alms.
Provide money bags for yourselves
that do not wear out,
an inexhaustible treasure in heaven
that no thief can reach nor moth destroy.
For where your treasure is, there
also will your heart be.

“Gird your loins and light your lamps
and be like servants who await their
master’s return from a wedding,
ready to open immediately when he
comes and knocks.
Blessed are those servants
whom the master finds vigilant on
his arrival.
Amen, I say to you,
he will gird himself,
have them recline at table, and
proceed to wait on them.
And should he come in the second or
third watch
and find them prepared in this way,
blessed are those servants.
Be sure of this:
if the master of the house had known
the hour
when the thief was coming,
he would not have let his house be
broken into.
You also must be prepared, for at an
hour you do not expect,
the Son of Man will come.”

Then Peter said,
“Lord, is this parable meant for us
or for everyone?”
And the Lord replied,
“Who, then, is the faithful
and prudent steward
whom the master will put in charge
of his servants
to distribute the food allowance at
the proper time?
Blessed is that servant whom his
master on arrival finds doing so.
Truly, I say to you, the master will
put the servant
in charge of all his property.
But if that servant says to himself,
‘My master is delayed in coming,’
and begins to beat the menservants
and the maidservants,
to eat and drink and get drunk,
then that servant’s master will come
on an unexpected day and at an
unknown hour
and will punish the servant severely
and assign him a place with the unfaithful.
That servant who knew his master’s will
but did not make preparations nor
act in accord with his will
shall be beaten severely;
and the servant who was ignorant of
his master’s will
but acted in a way deserving of a
severe beating
shall be beaten only lightly.
Much will be required of the person
entrusted with much,
and still more will be demanded of
the person entrusted with more.”+++