In this section you can find a daily commentary on the Gospel of the Day.

Wednesday 21 October 2020

Twenty-ninth week of Ordinary Time

Word for Today
The Gospel of Luke12:39-48

Within easy reach

Literally: you too must be ready [Greek: ètoimos], because at the hour you do not expect [Greek: dokèite] the Son of Man will come. In realty “to be ready” does not entirely convey the power of the Gospel text. The adjective ètoimos, “ready, prepared, handy, practicable, easy, agevole, disposed,” more literally means “to be handy in an easy way,” from the Akkadian etum, “near”, and from the Phaenician et, “to the side, beside, close.” Jesus does not ask his children to be ready for his coming, but he asks them to be within easy, manageable reach-- which is different, entirely different. The sense of tension and anxiety, mystery and preoccupation that the expression be ready  brings with it is undeniable, just as the fact that Jesus compares his coming with that of a thief. In all truth the text does not underline the mysterious unpredictability of the time of humanity's meeting with the Son of Man but the fact that on that day the children of God must be ready, or rather, as the text says literally, they must be in easy reach, manageably in reach of the Son of Man and His divine will. According to the Gospel, being children of God and of His reign implies being in easy reach, in reach of His hand on  this earth to realize His will and His project wherever life calls us to live. When we forgive our brothers we are in easy reach of God; when we do not forgive them we are in easy reach of Satan. When we are grateful, humble, good-natured, and full of compassion, we are in easy reach of God; when we are arrogant, hard-hearted, judgmental, and sad we are in easy reach of Satan. When we work for everyone's real well-being, we are in easy reach of God, when we work for our own benefit to feed our own selfishness and protect our advantages, we are in easy reach of Satan.
Being manageably in God's easy reach is a choice, a choice that changes our entire life from its very roots,  which has the power to predispose us in a wonderful way for our meeting with the Son of Man, with Jesus. If in the days of our meeting we will be in easy reach of His hand He will caress us and will lift us up to His heart. If not,  it will not be easy for us to grasp his hand. It seems incredible but despite the boundless dimensions of the planets and galaxies, they are always pefectly and manageably within easy reach of God and of His divine will more than people's small hearts.