By
Colleen O’Sullivan
Brothers and sisters: You have heard of the stewardship of God’s
grace that was given to me for your benefit, namely, that the mystery was made
known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly earlier… To me, the very least of all the holy ones,
this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the inscrutable riches of
Christ, and to bring to light for all what is the plan of the mystery hidden
from ages past in God who created all things, so that the manifold wisdom of
God might now be made known through the Church to the principalities and
authorities in the heavens. (Ephesians 3:2-3, 8-10)
Jesus said to his disciples: “Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour
when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you
do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
(Luke 12:39-40)
Piety
Sing praise to the Lord for his glorious
achievement; let this be known throughout all the earth.
(Isaiah 12:5)
Study
Lord, just as you made the Apostle Paul a steward
of your grace, so you have done for each of us.
Out of your unfathomable love, you have called us into being and
breathed your Spirit into us. As we have
sinned and failed you along life’s way, you have picked us up, forgiven us and
welcomed us back with open arms. Through
your Son’s death and resurrection, you have given us hope of eternal life with
you. Before all time, you knew your
plans for how we each would share your gracious gifts with our brothers and
sisters.
Many are the routes we take to awareness of your
presence and grace in our lives, for the most part not as dramatic as the way
in which Paul was stopped on the road to Damascus. A grandparent’s stories about Jesus, a
teacher’s lessons, a pastor’s preaching, the guidance of a spiritual director,
our prayer lives – all open our eyes to your working in us.
Awareness leads to gratitude. Once we’ve recognized that you are working in
our lives, O Lord, our hearts are thankful.
We realize how abundantly blessed we are. Truly our cups overflow, as the psalmist
reminds us.
Lord, we are so richly blessed; there is nothing to
do but share what you have given us with our brothers and sisters. Paul was led to share the Gospel with the
Gentiles. We are called to be generous in
accord with the unique gifts and graces you have bestowed upon us.
Action
If we are living that paradigm of awareness →
gratitude → sharing, the Gospel reading for today should hold no threat or fear for
us, as many people say it does. It’s not
so much a story about end times as a story about how to live today. When we’re truly grateful, I can’t imagine
anyone saying to himself or herself, I’ll wait a while to give thanks or to
share out of my abundance. We just
naturally want to do it in the present moment.
Spend a few minutes today considering what graces God has entrusted to
you.
If you’re in a sharing mood, please consider making a donation to Catholic
Relief Services to aid them as they partner with other church organizations
to offer assistance to Ebola-stricken areas in West Africa.
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