THURSDAY OF THE TWENTY-FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME, AUGUST 26, 2021

MASS READINGS

A Gospel according to Mt 24:42-51

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:

Stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.

One of the lessons I've learned from the COVID pandemic is to try to be more aware of the state of my soul.

This is not always easy to remember, but it's worth the try.

About 36 hours ago, the husband of an acquaintance lost his battle with this disease. They had been celebrating life early August, then, just like that, 3 days later the Delta variant overcame them and both got a severe case of pneumonia due to the virus. She recovered after a couple of weeks. He was put in a medically induced coma and a ventilator. Eventually his oxygen level plummeted below 40, and he passed away a few hours later.

And just like that, I am reminded that our own lives are fragile. And we can be taken away without any notice.

When one gets sick with COVID, so sick that they are hospitalized, there is complete isolation. The medical personnel will visit the patient the minimum amount of time, and there are absolutely no visitors allowed. Worse, most likely, chaplains won't be allowed to bring the sacraments to the person that is sick.

I take life for granted. I forget that it can end without my having time to say goodbye to my loved ones, and even worse, to not be in the state of grace. In that matter, COVID has been some kind of a blessing. It reminds me that I won't live forever, and to turn my eyes toward Jesus. I need to be aware of the moments, my intentions and my words. My life is to make sure it is for God, and not for myself.

This doesn't mean we have to stop living. We do need to be careful, trust in God, and to pray to Him for a cure.

I invite you to pray today the Litany for a Cure of the Pandemic found in our website PAPAMio.org.

God bless y'all!