Wednesday 33rd week in ordinary time
"Lk 19:11-28"
Jesus said to his disciples, "A nobleman went into a far country to receive a kingly power and then return. Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten pounds, and said to them, 'Trade with these till I come.'"
The master gave each of his servants something to trade with until he came back. He gave them the money and instructions, but made no mention of the time of his return. He didn't give any indication about how much time they had to trade and make their talents bear fruit, because the time is 'NOW'.
Some people waste their time planning to do things in the future and never manage to do them. Some want to become souls of prayer, or to be holy, or to do the Will of God, or to change the world... And they plan it; they think about it; they consult people and devise a course of action... But they never do it: 'I will give this to God', 'I will do this for God', 'I will go to Confession'... As St Augustine reminds us: "God has promised you 'forgiveness', but He has not promised you 'tomorrow'". Saints were saints because they never left anything for tomorrow; because they didn't know if they would have 'tomorrow'. They didn't plan to be holy. They 'tried' to be holy. They didn't plan to be friends with Jesus: they 'tried' to become His friends. They knew that talents don't last forever.
A man was given a very expensive bottle of vintage wine and he decided to store it in the cellar, waiting for a very special occasion. But no occasion was ever 'special enough' for him. His daughter's wedding came but he thought: 'Not special enough. There are many weddings'. His 50th wedding anniversary came but he thought: 'Next year it will be 51, which is even better than 50'. Time passed and he never found a special occasion. Eventually he died and after his funeral his children decided to open the bottle, but the wine had gone off already and had to be thrown away. Too much waiting! What a waste!
Let's not make God wait to start to become holy: this is the moment, today is the day, the time to be holy is now! Hodie, nunc! is the Latin for "today, now!" Mary, Virgin Most Faithful, don't allow me to procrastinate.
Thursday 32nd week in ordinary time
"Lk 17:20-25"
"The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, 'Lo, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you." And he said to the disciples, "The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, 'Lo, there!' or 'Lo, here!' Do not go, do not follow them...But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation."
We are coming close to the end of the liturgical year. During these days the Gospel of the Mass will be reminding us of the Second Coming of Our Lord and describes some of the things that will happen beforehand. One of them is the confusion caused by false prophets. The devil is an expert liar who tries to sow confusion among Jesus' disciples.
In a transatlantic sailing race one team employed the strategy of pretending to be their opponents' shore team, sending them misleading information on their radios. The ploy worked, since the other boats naturally followed their instructions and found themselves thoroughly lost. But the following year something very different happened. The teams didn't trust any radio instructions and so chose not to follow any...so they got lost again!
The devil does the same: he spends most of his energy sowing disunity and mistrust in the Church, mistrust in the Pope for 'something' he 'is reported' to have said; mistrust in that priest because he did something wrong once, mistrust in that Catholic institution or society because one of its members misbehaved. The devil loves those doubts which he sows abundantly among Christians. But let's keep it clearly in mind, and also spread the word, that we can't fight effectively if we are divided.
Our Lord predicted that many people would come and mislead His disciples. That happens every day in some media. But as St John Henry Newman wrote, "Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt." If ever we see difficulties amongst some Christians, we shouldn't distrust the Church. People may make mistakes, but God knows what He is doing. Mary, Mother of the Church, may I be an instrument of unity.