Friday of 29th Week, Year II: reflection
Theme: Seize every opportunity to save yourself from eternal damnation.
Reading: Lk 12:54–59
Dear friends in Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ invited the crowd in today’s gospel passage and all of us to use all our resources — our talents, knowledge, and time — to make choices and take actions that will save us from eternal damnation.
Jesus gave an example with someone being taken to a judge by his accuser. He stated that if the person fails to settle with the accuser while they are still on the way, he may end up behind bars. In the same way, Jesus expects us to see ourselves in this world as people who are marching towards the end, an end that might be joyful or sorrowful. Thus, He wants us to use everything that God has given us to make decisions or take actions that will guarantee that the end we will meet will be a joyful one instead of a sorrowful one.
The audience in today’s reading dedicated all their resources, time, and talent to perfecting their knowledge of the signs and things of this world, but they knew absolutely nothing about the signs of the kingdom of God. For this reason, Jesus called them hypocrites.
Like this crowd, there is always a propensity or temptation to focus entirely on things that will provide us with financial security and material comforts while paying little to no attention to those that will ensure our happiness at the end of our earthly life. For many people, this end is still far away; they believe that one day they will have enough time to focus on the things of God and then amend their life. But often, this one day never comes; so, they continue pursuing their material goals until their last day on earth, which could come when they least expected it.
In order to ensure that the last day never comes as a surprise, Jesus wants us to make the most of every day and every minute of our lives. We can do this by ensuring that we register something good every minute and every day with our resources, skills and time.
May your Friday be blessed and favoured, Amen
Fr. Isaac Chima