BEADS OF JOY 08-25-16
“Are You Ready For Jesus?”
©2016 James Dacey, Jr. OFS
My Friends,
Today’s Gospel:
Matthew 24:42-51 (Are You Ready For Jesus?)
“Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect. "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, `My master is delayed,' and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eats and drinks with the drunken, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will punish him, and put him with the hypocrites; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.”
Reflection:
So are you ready for Jesus? I guess if we were all truly honest, many would say, “Yeah, sort of…” But in our hearts, we’d be saying, “I sure hope Jesus catches me on a good day.” I think many can relate to that. But as Jesus says in today’s parable, “if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” So we have no idea when Jesus will come so we have to be ready all the time. Talk about stressful!!! The funny part is someone out there actually just said, “Does that mean I have to be good all the time now??” LOL! Too funny. Well the answer is yes...
I think the best way to handle this is simple. Think of the first part of this parable; Jesus actually gives us the solution, as to how we can best manage this without even thinking about it. Well the first part is about a thief in the night. That’s solved by having an alarm system, right! Simply always turn the alarm on, lock the doors and windows and you can close your eyes and the thief won’t so easily just walk in on you so randomly. And if he does there will be a battle with you and the Police. After all your alarm will go off, it will notify the Police, wake you up and the entire neighbor. So securing your home will be a natural activity in your life and all those around you will know that your home is secured by an alarm, discouraging anyone who might want to break in. Do you see where I am going with this.
Now, how do we prepare our lives to always be ready? Simply always be ready and live in such a way that you are always ready. Pray daily, read your bible daily, go to confession often, go to Mass often and do all you can to help others by placing them first before yourself. If you live a life that is simple and others see you charitably friendly; people will know by your character what kind of person you really are. Making your battle won with answering the question: How will you do this on a daily basis? This lifestyle will become part of your normal lifestyle. Hence making yourself always ready for Jesus. Will there still be challenges? Of cause! Will they be easy to manage? Yes! Think about these things. I care so much about your well-being. May God Richly Bless all of you. See you tomorrow.
LOVE YOU GUYS !!!!
Your brother in Christ Jesus
And His Most Blessed Mother,
Jim (The Rosary Man) Dacey Jr OFS
