04/08/2025
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C – August 10, 2025
Light Beating
Opening Prayer
Almighty ever-living God, whom, taught by the Holy Spirit, we dare to call our Father, bring, we pray, to perfection in our hearts the spirit of adoption as your sons and daughters, that we may merit to enter into the inheritance which you have promised. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. – Amen
Gospel - Luke 12: 32-48
Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the Kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. Gird your loins and light your lamps, and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” Then Peter said, “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?” And the Lord replied, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so. Truly, I say to you, the master will put the servant in charge of all his property. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish the servant severely, and assign him a place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”
Reflections
Today’s gospel is on the theme of remaining faithful as we wait for the return of the Lord. Jesus uses two parables to make the point. First there is the Parable of the Watchful Servants where Jesus encourages his disciples to be vigilant and ready for action as they wait for the coming of the Master. That he will come is certain, but when he will come no one knows. The Lord comes unexpectedly into our lives everyday through events and people we meet. But the ultimate, unexpected coming of the Lord in our lives is the moment of death. We should be watchful to recognize the Lord and prepared to meet him in the little unexpected opportunities of everyday life. This is the best way to prepare for the ultimate encounter with the Lord at the hour of death.
In the second parable, the Parable of the Faithful or Unfaithful Servant, Jesus reiterates the lesson of the first parable under the heading of faithfulness. He portrays two different attitudes of disciples in the absence of the Master. The wise disciple remains steadfast at his duty post even in the master’s absence. The foolish disciple takes to a complacent lifestyle and takes the law into his own hands. The day of reckoning comes with the master’s return. The faithful servant receives a promotion, the unfaithful one is “cut to pieces” and given a place with the unbelievers.
Jesus then goes on to expand and throw more light on the issue of reward and punishment. “That slave who knew what his master wanted, but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating” (Luke 12:47-48a). We are all to familiar with the two groups in which disciples will be separated on judgment day: the sheep on the right and the goats on the left, the blessed and the accursed, the faithful and the unfaithful. But what is this extra teaching that Jesus gives here on those who will receive “a light beating?” Surely it is not the blessed in heaven for they receive no beating at all. And it is not the accursed in hell for they receive a severe beating.
Passages like this lead one to the conclusion that beside heaven and hell, there is an in-between state of remedial punishment. Catholic teaching calls it purgatory, a state of temporary, remedial punishment for believers who die in venial sin. They cannot be admitted to heaven directly because they have guilt and yet they cannot be consigned to everlasting punishment in hell because their sin is not mortal (1 John 5:16-17). Many Protestant Christians have a problem with the doctrine of purgatory. One reason for this is that the Reformation Bible does not include some of the books in the Catholic Bible, such as 2 Maccabees, which clearly support this doctrine,. But the doctrine of purgatory makes sense, especially in light of Biblical passages, such as today’s gospel, that provide a third alternative to outright blessing and outright condemnation.
The doctrine of purgatory satisfies God’s mercy as well as God’s justice. It is good news to the struggling brother or sister who never quite seems to make it to the Christians ideals we all aim at. It is a great source of hope for us to know that even if we die in this imperfect, struggling state we may receive “a light beating” but we will still be admitted to the eternal happiness of heaven.
Closing Prayer
Almighty and ever-living God, your Spirit made us your children, confident to call you Father. Increase your Spirit within us and bring us to our promised inheritance. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Question
How do I actively prepare for eternal joy in God’s presence?
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Pax Vobiscum – Bro. Gus (EMHC-OLLP) -
