You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come. Luke 12:40

Reflection:
How many times have we prepared for a party, to have no one show up? I have had the fortune of knowing two people who have made arrangements and prepared for guests but no one came that was invited except for one or two people. Amazingly they all replied they would come too.

We are to prepare for an hour we know not when the Son of man will come. Just like when we prepare our meals or prepare for a party, how we go around dusting and vacumming and making sure everything is in place and looking just right, so we too must also be ready interiorly for Jesus' coming. What guests we invite into our homes to enjoy time with, but often we fail to invite our Lord along with them.

In today's reading we know not when he will come. But we should always give him the invitation for him to come into our hearts. We may not know the day or the hour he may just come. But I'll tell you it is a pleasure to welcome him into a prepared home. Where he also took up a broom and dust cloth and helped clean out what he finds not necessary.

Jesus said to his disciples:
"Gird your loins and light your lamps
and be like servants who await their master's return from a wedding,
ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks."
Luke 12:35-36

Reflection:
When we go to weddings, we usually sit in peaceful anticipation for the bride to come. All dressed in our best outfits for the occasion. So whether it is in a church or somewhere else this is usually the scene. Hushed whispers amongst the guest waiting for the moment to arrive.

Soon the moment comes when she appears at the door, ready to come down the aisle to meet her groom. While we as the guests of the wedding are shining too with smiles. We have come prepared in our attitudes. We have prepared ourselves to witness a love between two people, joining themselves as husband and wife. We also have prepared ourselves for the reception to follow these nuptials. We pretty much have girded our loins to enjoy what is there along with the bride and groom.

In today's reading Jesus tells us how to keep ourselves in anticipation of the masters return from a wedding. To gird our loins and have our lamps lit. So when the master comes, he does not encounter a dark home, but one filled with light and ready to serve him.

For us when we return from a wedding we come home to a dark house, unless with forethought we left a light on. It's comforting to encounter a lit home isn't it! Even more so when we help each other with our needs after a long day of joyous celebration.

We see how much we go through to prepare for a day of celebration, yet all too often we neglect our interior homes. If we can prepare for earthly celebrations, how much better when we prepare ourselves for his coming in such a way.

But God said to him, 'You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?' "Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God." Luke 12:20-21

Reflection:
Rightly so! We accumulate to pass on to the one's who will inherit. But in the process of storing up this treasure for others, are we also collecting and storing up any treasure for heaven. That is our true inheritance and where our riches will be found.

Sometimes we amass so many things to have no one to give it to. When we die we can not take it with us. In this Gospel reading, it is God who tells us what we need to do, to gather and store up what matters to him, not what matters to us.

When we have things that take things away from our daily living, such as storms that cut the power, or cause something even worse, devastation as we see it. It is our Fathers guiding hand showing us what is important and what is not. Material things come and go, but in all the time that we have it is faith that stands far longer than anything. We come together and unite, we show kindness when loss has happened. These are the treasures we build for our eternal life with God. He gave us virtues to live by, but only are seen when trouble is apparent.

Can it be that we have chosen to sit on our laurels waiting for devastation to happen before we let our virtues show. Where we begin to build our treasure. These possessions go with us when we die, not those that are man made, but God made.