Be Prepared

 

August 27, 2009

Thursday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time

1 Thes 3: 7-13; Mt 24: 42-51

Dc. Larry Brockman

Years ago my two boys were in Boy Scouts.  Now as most of you know, the Boy Scout motto is “Be prepared!”  And it can’t be a more appropriate motto.  For example, my wife and I went once with our two boys on an overnight scout canoe trip.  We were serving as chaperons assisting the Scoutmaster.  When we got finished with the first day’s rowing and were setting up camp, we discovered that some of the scouts had forgotten a few things.  One little guy forgot spare underware; another forgot a flashlight; but a third scout forgot his food.  “Be prepared” was the retort from the scoutmaster, followed by “You are responsible for yourself”.  Jane and I were a bit shocked at the apparent lack of compassion as the Scoutmaster insisted the young man suffer the consequences of forgetting to bring food.  Later, he told us quietly that this lesson would insure that it would never happen again. 

Today’s parable ought to instill the same lesson in all of us.  You are responsible for your own relationship with God.  You cannot afford to forget; you have got to be prepared at all times,  and nobody else can come to your rescue.  Jesus makes an additional point as well.  You can’t deceive him.  Whatever you do while He is away will be discovered, you can be sure of that.  It will, indeed, be as if He returns at the worst possible moment, when you are off guard. 

It doesn’t have to be that way.  For example, St. Paul told the Thessalonians that:   “We have been reassured about you, brothers and sisters, in our every distress and affliction, through your faith”   So, even though Paul was away from them, the word to him was that they were holding firm, were acting as faithful stewards in his absence.  And although there were some deficiencies mentioned, the main point is that they were trying,  They were giving it an honest effort.  And that’s what we need to do too.  We need to always keep our eye on the goal and to “Be Prepared”. 

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