November 22

Weekend Bulletin
Children’s Bulletin

Deacon’s Digest

In these past weeks we have found in the Gospels a very clear admonition to be prepared. Two weeks ago we heard about the 10 virgins who were to meet the bridegroom and the different experiences they had. 5 were wise and had come prepared with sufficient stores of oil for their lamps, the other 5 were caught off guard when the bridegroom was delayed. The wise virgins were rewarded with entry in the wedding banquet - the others were sent away. Last week we heard of the three servants each gifted with a large amount of money (called a talent). Two worked hard to increase the value of what the Master had given them - the other buried his gift in the ground. When the Master returned the two were rewarded and were told to "come, share your Master's joy". The other, the one who buried the talent, was called a "wicked, lazy servant" and was "thrown out into the darkness where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth".
In both of those parables it is clear where Jesus wants us - in the camp of preparation and diligence. None of us know when the Master will come for us - will we be prepared? Will our "lamps" be filled with oil? We need to be accessing that "oil" (code for Grace) in the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation. We need to participate in the Liturgy and receive strength from the community of God's people gathered to experience Christ in Word and in Sacrament. We need to receive from God with joy, take care of those gifts, share them with others, and return them to God with increase.
This weekend we hear the culmination of those parables when Jesus describes the final judgement in Matthew 25. The sheep and the goats are separated - the sheep on the right, the goats on the left. Those on the left are sent away because they did not feed, clothe, welcome the stranger, or tend to the ill and imprisoned. They are incredulous and ask "when did we see you these ways" and the answer is famous -"whatever you did for the least of these you did for Me"! The sheep are welcomed into the everlasting kingdom prepared for them from the beginning because they did feed, clothe, welcome, visit and tend.
These past few weeks (especially this weekend) the parables Jesus tells could be called the "open book test". He tells us EXACTLY what we need to be up to in order to come into the wedding banquet, to share the Master's joy and to enter the everlasting kingdom. It's obvious that Jesus wants us to be with him forever in heaven - that's why he tells these parables. It's also obvious that he wants us to get a taste of that heavenly kingdom NOW by living the way God made us to live. O what a wonderful Savior!
It boils down to this: do you see life as "all about you" or "not about you"? When you look at others do you see them as a burden or an opportunity to serve? I saw a sign at a gas station the other day that said "Life is full of choices - Eternity only has two". The choices we make here determine our eternal destiny. We need to choose well by heeding Jesus' advice in these Gospel Readings.