Stay Awake! August 31

“Stay awake!” Matthew 24:42

Piety

Let us pray: Jesus, we try hard but we fall asleep on the job of being Christian. But Christianity doesn’t just set forth a 40 hour work week. The commitment you require never ends, 24/7 as they say. But we also know that your support for us never ends either. Stand by our side and shake us when we tire and support us when we waver in our faith walk with you and yield to temptation. So that when you arrive, you will find us doing your work on earth. Deliver us from evil and grant us peace today. Amen.

Study
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/083106.shtml

Prepare ye the way of the Lord.

Even after Christ atoned for our sins by dying on the cross, sinfulness runs rampant in the world. Despite the worldly rejection, there is a universal call to holiness that we hear from St. Paul today.

Just as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he could be writing to the Arlingtonians. To the Church of God that is in Arlington, Fairfax, Fredericksburg, Burke, Woodstock, Springfield, or Mclean, Paul calls all of us who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, to be holy, in universal brother and sisterhood with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.

What do you know from your own experience? When you look into your own heart, do you always choose the path that leads to the common good? Are you ever drawn to what you know is wrong? Are you ever drawn to something you know can not flow from a creator of all that is good?

How do you define and interpret the Church in Paul’s letter? Does Paul call us into communion with the liturgical assembly, the local community in our home towns, or the universal Church of all believers, everywhere? Frankly, it doesn’t matter if the believers are from Mclean or Mexico, Springfield or the Sudan, Paul calls us into union with all three. We are all called to the cloud of witnesses.

So Paul calls us to “stay awake” and alert. To be on guard against sin, not the sins of society, but rather the temptations that enter into our own hearts. Ever try to stay awake when the time is past your bedtime? You eyelids droop. You yawn. Your defenses go down. What tempts you? Food? Shopping? Alcohol? Drugs? Anger? Greed? What?

But when our defenses go down, Christ becomes our defender. “He will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1: 8-9

Action

“Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household to distribute to them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so.” Matthew 24:45

Matthew expresses our mission for the Lord in terms of the hospitality for the poor and forgotten which the Gospel requires us to heed. The work is plenty and the laborers are few. So pitch in wherever you can witness to the Good News. There is a lot happening in the coming months. Just look at where you can put your action to good measure…

September 9 Reunion of Leaders (St. Mary of Sorrows)
September 13 Forty Hours Devotion (St. Mary of Sorrows)
September 14-17 113th Men’s Cursillo at St. Joseph Seminary, Washington
September 17 Catechetical Sunday
SOCIAL JUSTICE U, Virginia Interfaith Center for Public
Policy/NoVA Region (@St. Charles, 2:30 – 5 PM)
September 17 OLQP JustFAITH Kick-off and Orientation
September 21 UN International Day of Peace
September 30 Arlington Diocese Peace & Justice 3rd annual conference
Environmental Justice (St. Francis of Assisi, Triangle, 8:45 AM)
October Respect Life Month
Hispanic Heritage Month
Domestic Violence Awareness Month
October 4 Feast of St Francis of Assisi – Patron of Environment
October 7 Reunion of Leaders
October 20 Region II Encounter
October 21/22 National Weekend of FAITH IN ACTION on the Death Penalty
October 22 Mission Sunday {Charity: Soul of the Mission}
Several October Dates Journey of Hope (www.journeyofhope.org)
October 28 National Make a Difference Day
November 2 122 Women’s Cursillo
November 4 Reunion of Leaders
November 18 Fannie Mae annual Help the Homeless Walk
November 18/19 Catholic Campaign for Human Development
December 1 World AIDS Awareness Day
December 2 Anniversary of death of 4 US Churchwomen in El Salvador
December 6 Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy annual
Gathering in Richmond – James Garbarino, Keynote
December 10 International Human Rights Day
January 22 March for Life
January 29 Catholic Advocacy Day in Richmond