Our Gospel reading reminds
me of the old (and very good) story of the apparition on the corner of Main and
Market in a busy city. It was Saturday morning when Fr. Pascucci heard a knock
on the rectory door and an extremely excited lady said, “The Lord has appeared
on the corner of Main and Market.” Father was in the process of trying to
decide if she was suffering from stress or whatever, when a second person came
running, “Father, father, the Lord has appeared on the corner of Main and
Market.” “When?” Fr. Pascucci asked. “He’s there right now,” they both
answered. So Fr. Pascucci went
down the block where a large crowed had formed, and sure enough, he saw Jesus. After
a while the Lord left. Fr.
Pascucci didn’t know what to do, so he called a monsignor friend of his. His
friend told him to call the bishop. So Father Pascucci called the bishop and
told him the news, “The Lord has appeared on the corner of Main and Market. What
should I do if he comes back?” The bishop thought for a while and then told Fr.
Pascucci he’d get back to him. The
bishop then called Rome, and, being an important bishop, he got the pope. “Holy
Father, he said, one of my priests, Fr. Pascucci, reports that the Lord has
appeared on the corner of Main and Market in his parish. He wants to know what
he should do in case the Lord comes back.” After a few moments the pope
replied, “Tell Fr. Pascucci to look busy.”[1]
Good
advice for us all. The Lord is coming back. How should we prepare? Not just by
looking busy, but by being busy. There is a lot to keep us busy. People are
seeking meaning in life. We Christians, Catholics, have been given the gift of
recognizing the reason for existence. The answer to all questions is simple:
the answer to all questions is Jesus. We can provide the answer by our attitude
in life. We have to be devoted to the Lord, out there, here among us, here
within each of us. This complicated world of ours becomes very simple when we
make it clear to ourselves that we are enriched by the presence of the Lord. As
I come to a deeper understanding of Jesus’ presence in my life, as you come to
a deeper understanding of his presence in your lives, then He becomes the pearl
of great value that the merchant in the Gospel parable sacrifices all he has to
obtain. When every aspect of our lives revolves around Jesus, we just don’t
want anything in our lives that distracts us from the His Divine Presence.
We
don’t avoid immorality just because the Church says that this or that are bad. We
avoid immorality because we refuse to allow immorality to cloud the presence of
the Lord within us, or even, to steal Jesus from us.
Holding
on to Jesus keeps us busy. We are always fighting against our imperfections. We
are always fighting against temptations.
We are continually fighting against those who mock us for our dedication
to Catholicism. Sometimes we feel overwhelmed by the negativity around us. That
is particularly when we have to put up a fight for the Lord. That is particularly when we have to be
busy.
Standing
up for the Lord keeps us busy.
Those of you who are not married know how difficult it is to live as a
decent Christian single. It is sad that for many Americans unwed implies
immoral. There are some who feel
that if a guy or a girl is a bachelor, then somehow he or she has the right to
be, to put it bluntly, a lecherous drunk.
This is not the way of the Catholic who treasures the Divine Presence
within him or her. But the single person has to make an effort to fill his or
her life with actions that reflect Christianity. He or she has to be busy, filling life with meaningful,
Christian experiences. The Church
depends on our committed singles to be generous with their time.
Blessed are those servants whom the
master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself,
have the servants 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.
The
Lord is here. It is not enough for us to just look busy. We have to be busy!
And we have to trust in Him because He will respond to our determination to live
our faith by caring for us! ■
[1]
Sunday 11th August, 2013, 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Readings: Wisdom
18:6-9. Happy the people the Lord has
chosen to be his own - Ps 32(33):1, 12, 18-20, 22. Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19.
Luke 12:32-48 [St Clare].
