St. Paul is deeply conscious that he is a servant of God. He says that he has been assigned as a steward by God’s grace and his responsibility is a gift of God’s grace. The Gospel should make us uncomfortable. The danger is that we become complacent in our lives of faith and risk being unprepared for the coming of the Lord. This is not the apocalyptic arrival of the end time, but each of us will come to the end of our life at a time we may not expect. We, who identify with the name of Christian, have been given great responsibility and therefore more will be expected of us. It is easy, when we think the master is away, to lose focus and become distracted but even as we think that God is distant, the Lord is close at hand. Like the servants in the Gospel, we have been given particular responsibilities relating to our state of life. How do we carry these out? With diligence, justice, love and compassion? Or does life become so familiar and seemingly predictable that we drop the bundle?

PRAYER: Abba Father, awaken our spirits to be faithful, prudent and prepared for the coming of Jesus. Amen.