Homily – 19th Sunday Ordinary Time (C)

‘See that you are dressed for action and have your lamps lit. Be like men waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks. Happy those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. I tell you solemnly, he will put on an apron, sit them down at table and wait on them. It may be in the second watch he comes, or in the third, but happy those servants if he finds them ready. 

We are always getting ready for one thing or another: for the day, for work, for home, getting ready for bed. And that’s all in just one day let alone weeks, months and years. Nowadays it’s not uncommon that we even get ready for what happen after we die – wills are prepared well in advance to decide who inherit this and that.  

The story of the servant and master serves as an image for readiness. The kind of relationship sets out the expectation for servants – nothing is extraordinary about it. Jesus changes this dynamic radically – the relationship becomes no longer master or servant but something more intimate. Waiting, rather than as a duty but out of a sincere concern. The relationship is turned on its head because of this mutual love – the master is now the one waiting on the servant.

When the Gospels were written there was a sense of urgency in its message for the early communities to be ready for the second coming of Christ. Even though Christ didn’t return during their lifetime it created an even greater sense of readiness for generations to come.  

During the week the Church in Australia celebrated the Feast of St Mary of the Cross. Many generations including me have benefited from schools ran by the Josephites. Mary MacKillop’s vision for students from underprivileged backgrounds was for them to know that even though the world had forgotten them the providential God had not.

By Fr Hoang Dinh