The Catholic Calendar for Thursday, August 26, 2004
Thursday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Psalm 145:2-7
Matthew 24:42-51

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

"Stay Awake!"

You do not know when the Son of Man will be coming. This phrase is a powerful reminder of the expected second-coming of Jesus in Glory. But I almost think of that long-awaited second-coming as a third coming.

Jesus arrived on Earth in the human way, being born of His mother some two-thousand years ago. That was His first coming. Jesus will come in glory to judge the living and the Dead--that will be His second coming as we reckon things.

However, Jesus comes to us each day. He comes to us in the Eucharist, if we are able to attend Mass. He comes to us in reading and meditating upon the Bible. He comes to us in the form of people who need our help and our attention.

Keep awake! Be prepared to listen. Be prepared to open your heart to someone who comes to you today. Such a guest is Jesus. Jesus is present within each of the brothers and sisters here on Earth. Too often we are blinded or our sight is dulled to His glorious presence in the people around us. Sleeper Awake! Keep Awake! For when we are awake, we will see Him when He comes. Be prepared for Jesus's arrival. Make haste to welcome Him! Not necessarily on clouds of glory, but in the eyes of someone who hasn't enough to eat, in the heart of a mother who is thinking of destroying the child within her because she can see no other way; in the helpless, the oppressed, or in the depressed. Or perhaps He will come to you casually in the person who just needs to talk and hear consoling words.

Whenever He comes, stay awake! Be ready to welcome Him. For it is in welcoming one of these, the smallest of our brothers and sisters that we truly hail Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior, Brother and King.

Stay awake!

- JuandelaCruz
(sriddle415 at yahoo dot com)

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posted by joachim at 4:35 AM