Daily Gospel Reflection

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August 31, 2023

Thursday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Mt 24:42-51
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Jesus said to his disciples:
“Stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
Be sure of this: if the master of the house
had known the hour of night when the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake
and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.

“Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant,
whom the master has put in charge of his household
to distribute to them their food at the proper time?
Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so.
Amen, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property.
But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is long delayed,’
and begins to beat his fellow servants,
and eat and drink with drunkards,
the servant’s master will come on an unexpected day
and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely
and assign him a place with the hypocrites,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

Reflection

Heather Reynolds
Michael L. Smith Managing Director, Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO)
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As I reflect on today’s gospel reading, top of my mind comes a funeral service I attended years ago. The service was for six people with six different stories. One was a man everyone referred to as “Pops.” A man who spent his life living in a tent under a bridge in Fort Worth, Texas.

Everyone who knew Pops loved his energy and jokes. He was the kind of neighbor everyone wanted—welcoming and watchful—even if his neighbors lived on the street like him. A man whose only refuge from life was a vodka bottle.

Pops received support from his Catholic Charities, where I had served for two decades before coming to Notre Dame. Years were spent getting Pops to trust us through our regular visits to his tent, finally getting Pops into an apartment and treatment. One day, Pops was found dead by apartment maintenance. And who was called? His emergency contact was Catholic Charities.

There is something deeply sad that this was his emergency contact. And yet, there is a lot to be said about how this mirrors today’s gospel command to “Stay awake!” by who Pops scribbled down on his housing application as his emergency contact.

Sitting at this funeral service, we honored six lives lost on the streets of Fort Worth–a violent death, death from the exhaustion of street living, and two found by our staff. None mourned until our team gathered a humble funeral to remember their lives—a vase of six roses, a tent, and a crowd full of Catholic Charities staff, crying softly and holding steadfast to the belief that these lives deserved not to be forgotten.

May we all be called to be that prudent and faithful servant that always shows up to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters.

Prayer

Rev. Nicholas Ayo, C.S.C.

Lord God, your ways are mysterious and we are easily distracted and lulled to sleep. Help us to be alert, and to be not presumptuous of your mercy. Enlighten us that we may recognize the danger of drifting through our days and being overtaken by our own negligence. Wake us and enable us by your grace. Amen.

Saint of the Day

St. Raymond Nonnatus

St. Raymond only barely survived his own birth, yet went on to lead many, even his captors, to new life in Christ.

Raymond was born in 1204 in Spain, though his mother died while in labor, which prompted his delivery by Caesarian operation. This is the origin of his surname, “Nonnatus,” which means “not born.” He is depicted below as an infant being fed by angels.

His father planned for Raymond to join the royal court, but he felt called to religious life. His father then assigned him the task of overseeing one of the family farms. Raymond spent all of his time in prayer and in conversation with the shepherds and hired hands, so his father gave up on his plans.

Raymond became a priest and spent all he had to ransom Christians captured by Muslims. When he ran out of money, he gave his own life for another Christian and was sentenced to die. His captors realized that he would be worth more if he could bring a ransom, so he was imprisoned and tortured, but succeeded at converting some of his guards. To keep him from converting others, his captors bored holes through his lips and locked his mouth shut with a padlock.

He was eventually ransomed and lived the rest of his life as a poor monk; he died in 1240. Because of the circumstances of his birth, he is patron of expectant mothers. His relics rest in the Basilica, and the image of him preaching is used with permission from Catholic.org.

St. Raymond Nonnatus, patron saint of expecting mothers, pray for us!