Daily Gospel Reflection
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August 7, 2022
Jesus said to his disciples:
“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 the servants 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.”
I’ve always found the words “at an hour you do not expect” anxiety-provoking. If you love to be in control (like me), there is nothing more frustrating than knowing something is going to happen but not knowing when. It can put us on edge, make us worry, and keep us focused solely on what is outside our control.
However, the more years I spend reading this passage, the more I realize it is an invitation to lay down the desire to control what is outside my control and focus instead on what our Lord says is essential.
Even though we cannot know what life has in store for us, Christ tells us we can “gird [our] loins and light [our] lamps.” We can gird our loins by being faithful to our daily duties—our work, our chores, our interactions with others—and doing them out of love for God and neighbor. We can light our lamps by staying close to God through prayer and asking God to keep our lamps lit by the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Then, when the Lord knocks, whether it be a sickness, a job loss, or a friend going through a crisis, we will be ready to “open immediately” and respond with the love of a servant who wants nothing but the good of those they serve.
Even when times are difficult, even when we are in the “second or third watch,” let us ask God for the grace to focus on what is in our control. May we light our world with lamps of love, and then, at the hour we “do not expect,” may we be invited to recline at the Lord’s table—the table of love itself.
Prayer
Compared to what you have done for me, Abba, everything I can do for others is a mere pittance. Yet it means so much to you, and does so much in bringing about the fullness of your Kingdom. I ask of your Spirit this day the grace to “wait on someone.” A smile, a kind word, yielding on the street or in the meeting room, making peace with someone whom I’ve been holding at arm’s length, forgiving someone who has hurt me – whatever you ask me to do, may I have the grace to do it.
Saint of the Day
St. Cajetan lived in the early 1500s in Italy, at a time when the Church was marked by corruption and indifference. In response, like an effective team captain rallying other players, he reenergized a community of priests who reformed the Church with their zeal and service to the poor.
He was born in 1480 to noble parents and attended the University of Padua, where he dedicated himself to studies and prayer. He received civil and canon law doctorates and returned to his hometown, where he was appointed a senator. After a time, he discerned a call to the priesthood and was ordained when he was 33.
He began to gather other priests around him to care for the poor and sick. Because Cajetan was of noble status, he could have selected anywhere to minister—at court, or in the hierarchy at the Vatican. Instead, he sought out the priests who were living and working among the people of the streets. Though this offended his friends, he persisted. He even founded a bank to offer poor people an alternative to loan sharks.
The group founded a hospital for those suffering from incurable diseases. He told his brother clerics that in church, “we try to serve God by worship; in our hospital we may say that we actually find him."
The Church itself was sick at that time—many of the clergy were corrupt and indifferent. Cajetan and his community of brother priests decided to formalize their efforts as a religious community dedicated to zeal and to spreading authentic faith through their personal witness. They preached, cared for the sick, encouraged people to receive the sacraments frequently, and urged pastors to live a dedicated life of service.
He spent the rest of his life working to reform the Church and mediating civil conflicts. His community of priests went on to play a key role in the reformation of the Church. When he fell ill in 1547, his doctors ordered him to lie on a mattress instead of the bare boards he used for his bed. “My savior died on a cross,” Cajetan said. “Allow me at least to die on wood.”
St. Cajetan’s relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica. He is the patron saint of workers and of those seeking employment.
St. Cajetan, who led priests and rallied the Church with his zeal and commitment to the poor, pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Cajetan is in the public domain. Last accessed March 28, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
