Read and re-read the first reading and see how your Parish, our Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church should be! And if it is not then why not?
Enriched in many ways in Christ, fully alive and grace filled such that everyone who comes in contact with a disciple of Jesus Christ desires to be one him or herself.
Perhaps a clue as to why not or rather not yet is to be found in the Gospel of today. Many have fallen asleep! Many are not awake to the workings of the Holy Spirit already outpoured for us and are not living a life in the Spirit. Consumed day to day with other more ‘important’ things refusing to spend any time in the presence of the Lord our God and in community. For without a community no one can claim to be disciple of Christ!
Come Holy Spirit fill my very being with Your graces this very morning, come fill me again at noon, in the evening and in the night. Be with me every hour, guide me so that I may draw ever closer to the bosom of my Lord and my God. Amen Alleluia.
First reading
1 Corinthians 1:1-9 ·
You have been enriched in many ways in Christ
I, 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 are 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 24:42-51
He is coming at an hour you do not expect
Jesus 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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