With so many things going on in our lives, can we stay awake to keep watch over and safeguard our souls? Those of our families, as well as our fellow sisters and brothers in Christ entrusted to us? Is it even possible to this alone with the many distractions, temptations and with evil lurking at every corner? That is why apart from needing Jesus in the forefront of our lives we need one another. That is, we need to belong to a community centred on Him. To affirm as well as help one another in the many challenges we face in remaining faithful and steadfast. When we live not for ourselves but for one another we begin to understand more deeply our Lord’s call to communion. With Him and one another.
Let us then devote our lives to living His Word through steadfastness in prayer, in working hand in hand to build His Kingdom and in glorifying our Lord; By our lives lived in His love for Him and for one another. Amen
St Monica pray for us….
First reading
1 Corinthians 1:1-9 ·You have been enriched in many ways in ChristI, Paul, appointed by God to be an apostle, together with brother Sosthenes, send greetings to the church of God in Corinth, to the holy people of Jesus Christ, who called to take their place among all the saints everywhere who pray to our Lord Jesus Christ; for he is their Lord no less than ours. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ send you grace and peace. I never stop thanking God for all the graces you have received through Jesus Christ. I thank him that you have been enriched in so many ways, especially in your teachers and preachers; the witness to Christ has indeed been strong among you so that you will not be without any of the gifts of the Spirit while you are waiting for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed; and he will keep you steady and without blame until the last day, the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, because God by calling you has joined you to his Son, Jesus Christ; and God is faithful.
Gospel
Matthew 24:42-51He is coming at an hour you do not expectJesus said to his disciples: ‘Stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming. You may be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known at what time of the night the burglar would come, he would have stayed awake and would not have allowed anyone to break through the wall of his house. Therefore, you too must stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. ‘What sort of servant, then, is faithful and wise enough for the master to place him over his household to give them their food at the proper time? Happy that servant if his master’s arrival finds him at this employment. I tell you solemnly, he will place him over everything he owns. But as for the dishonest servant who says to himself, “My master is taking his time,” and sets about beating his fellow servants and eating and drinking with drunkards, his master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. The master will cut him off and send him to the same fate as the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.’
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