“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
“Get Ready,” crooned Eddie Kendricks, the falsetto of the Temptations’, “here I come.” Jesus’ instruction in today’s Gospel is a reference to the Passover meal, which Jews were to eat with “your loins girded, sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand,” (Exodus 12:11). Jews also were to “light their lamps” in hopeful expectation for the Messiah, who was believed to be coming one day at midnight. Jesus is urgently telling his listeners, “Get ready!” While Jesus doesn’t tell us when he will come, he does show us how to wait: in joyful hope. Like the servant, we believers are to work diligently building God’s kingdom on earth, secure in the knowledge that one day we will be with God. One model for us in cultivating this disposition is Jesuit Brother Alphonsus Rodriguez, a doorman who exclaimed every time someone rang the bell, “I’m coming, Lord!” —Dan Dixon, SJ, is a Jesuit scholastic of the Midwest Province studying at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, CA. O God, in the faithful service of our brother Alphonsus, You have shown us the way to joy and peace. Make us ready and watchful companions of Jesus, who became the servant of all, and now lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen —Prayer for the Feast of St. Alphonsus Rodriguez, SJWaiting for God
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Ignatian spirituality reminds us that God pursues us in the routines of our home and work life, and in the hopes and fears of life's challenges. The founder of the Jesuits, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, created the Spiritual Exercises to deepen our relationship with Christ and to move our contemplation into service. May this prayer site anchor your day and strengthen your resolve to remember what truly matters.
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