Gospel

‘Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes.’
Luke 12:35–38

At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service, and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants!’

The Gospel of the Lord

What Are We Keeping an Eye On?

The Lord is constantly inviting us to embrace a new way of living. This time, He calls us to be awake, attentive, watchful for Him, for His Word, for His Heart, so that we can open the door of our own hearts and receive His divine love. We will be happy to the extent that we fill ourselves with His love and give it to others. Ask yourself without fear: Am I truly happy? Do I regularly experience joy, peace, patience, kindness, love…? For these are the fruits of the Holy Spirit, the fruits of a life that allows itself to be loved by God and surrenders itself according to His Will. If you want to experience this, ask yourself honestly: What am I keeping an eye on? Perhaps my mobile phone, my appearance, my clothes, having a perfectly tidy house, work, or even my children, parents, friends…? What steals my time and attention? How many things seem to be demanding my heart! But what about my husband? Am I attentive to him, to what makes him happy, to building intimacy with him? Or do I find that I often give him only the leftovers of my time and my heart, when I gave them to him in the first place? Today is the day to start living differently! Turn your gaze back to the Lord, allow yourself to be loved by Him and give yourself to your husband with all your heart! Do not keep score or wait for him to make the first move; you do it. That is the path to true happiness! Do not look for it anywhere else!

Applied to Married Life

Luke and Emily have been arguing about everything for weeks, but they are receiving support from mentors and want to grow in love. One evening, after putting the children to bed, they sit down on the sofa.

Emily: Luke, don’t you feel that things have been really bad between us lately?
Luke: Yeah… We just never stop. Between work, the children and everything else we have going on…
Emily: Well, you always find time for work. And for looking at your mobile phone, too.
Luke: Here we go again… You never stop either, what with the children, your mother, the shopping, the house… It feels as though I’m last on the list.
Emily: Here we go again! Let’s try to build each other up, please, and stop accusing one another, because we always end up in a terrible state.
Luke: Okaaay.
Emily: Well, that’s it. I feel exactly the same way, Luke. We spend all day doing things for everyone and doing everything except making time for each other.
Luke: It’s true… How long has it been since we sat down and talked peacefully, and prayed together?
Emily: That’s true… I can’t even remember. And then we wonder why things are like this…
Luke: Perhaps the problem isn’t that we don’t have enough time, but that we’ve stopped making time for each other.
Emily: Well, we’ll have to change that, won’t we?
Luke: We’d better, because you’re becoming unbearable (laughing).
Emily: Well, you’re one to talk! (laughing)

A few laughs, a hug, looking into each other’s eyes and a firm determination to put our loves back in the right order. Is it that easy? That “easy”.

Mother,
May we never tire of waiting for the Lord, may we know how to recognise Him in our spouse, and may He find our hearts open when He comes. Praised be the Lord, who never ceases to teach us how to love!

Gospel

‘The things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
Luke 12:13–21

At that time: Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of one’s possessions.’ And he told them a parable, saying, ‘The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, “What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?” And he said, “I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ ” But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So is the one who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God.’

The Gospel of the Lord

Never Enough

Greed leads us to place our security in the things of this world rather than in God. When we allow ourselves to be carried away by it, we devote our efforts to obtaining what we believe we need, gradually moving away from God and from our vocation as husband and wife. The disordered pursuit of greater wealth, more power, more prestige or recognition, even the desire to stand out spiritually, ends up drawing us away from what truly matters: loving God and growing in communion with our spouse. The truth is that greed is never satisfied. We always want something more, because we can never have enough of what we do not really need. We live searching outside ourselves for what only God can fill within us. Greed prevents us from truly loving, because it places our desires before self-giving. We stop looking at our spouse and being attentive to their needs because our hearts are occupied with other things. Today, Jesus invites us to recognise those little forms of greed hidden in our hearts and to detach ourselves from them, so that we may recover the freedom to love and give ourselves fully to our spouse.

Applied to Married Life:

Louise: You’ve come home late again! You said we would have dinner together tonight. Andrew: I know, but a last-minute meeting came up. I need to give it everything I’ve got, now more than ever. I’m doing all this for our family.
Louise: You always say the same thing, but you’ve hardly been at home for months. Our children wait for you, and I feel lonely.
Andrew: Thanks to our jobs, we have this house, the schools and the life we lead.
Louise: I admit I’m afraid of losing our comforts, but I’m even more afraid of continuing to lose our marriage.
Andrew: I hadn’t realised you saw it that way.
Louise: We have both fuelled this. You want to earn more and prove that you can go further; I’m afraid of giving up our comforts and the image we have built. We say it’s for the family, but often it’s really because of our own greed.
Andrew: Perhaps I’ve been looking for a sense of security in money that only God can give.
Louise: And I’ve been looking for satisfaction in other people’s recognition, but that doesn’t fulfil me either. We always want more, and it’s driving us apart.

That night, before going to sleep, they knelt down together.

Andrew: Lord, forgive us for placing our trust in our work and in what we possess. Teach us to put our priorities in the right order.
Louise: Help us to let go of whatever is necessary to care for our marriage and to seek Your Kingdom first.

Mother,
Help us to place our trust in God alone. Praised be the Lord!

From the Gospel according to Luke 12:8-12

At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, ‘And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men, will be denied before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.’

Deny Him or bear witness to Him.

Husbands and wives, today Jesus invites us to ask ourselves whether He truly occupies the centre of our hearts and our lives. Are we living out the covenant we once made with Him, or are we denying Him through the way we love one another? We may say that we believe in Him, but it is in the way we love each other every day that we reveal whether we are living out the covenant we once made with Him. When I close my heart to my spouse, struggle to forgive or stop giving of myself, my life ceases to reflect the love of Christ. On the other hand, when I welcome my spouse, remain by their side and seek communion, even in difficult moments, our marriage becomes a living witness to Jesus. And how wonderful it is that Jesus reminds us today that we do not have to do this alone or rely solely on our own strength! The Holy Spirit, who dwells within us through the grace of the Sacrament, gradually teaches us how to look at one another, how to listen, what to say and how to love. If we allow ourselves to be guided by Him, even our difficulties can help us encounter Christ anew, purify our love and renew our gift of ourselves.

Brought into married life:

Isaac: Darling, I’m feeling overwhelmed about the catechesis we’re due to give to the group this month. I feel as though it all depends on me, and I don’t know how to get the message across.
Rebecca: Isaac, what if we stopped worrying so much about what we need to say and asked ourselves what the Lord wants to do in us and in the other married couples?
Isaac: I know, but I’m afraid my mind will go blank…
Rebecca: Look, Isaac, we’re not going there as experts. We’re going as a married couple trying to live out what God proposes to us through the catecheses of St John Paul II.
Isaac: I know, but… what if we can’t find the right words?
Rebecca: Isaac, don’t worry about how or what you’re going to say. The Holy Spirit will teach us at that very moment what we need to say. Let’s prepare, pray and trust in Him.
Isaac: So it’s not about getting everything perfect…
Rebecca: Exactly. We offer our hearts, and the Lord provides the grace.
Isaac: Thank you, Rebecca. It’s reassuring to realise that it doesn’t all depend on us.
Rebecca: Exactly… let’s prepare, pray and trust in the Holy Spirit.
Isaac: So… less worrying and more trusting.
Rebecca: And more prayer, darling.

Mother,

Make us docile to the Holy Spirit and faithful to Jesus. Accompany us so that our marriage may be a witness to His love. Blessed and praised be the Lord for ever!

From the Gospel according to  Luke 12:1–7

At that time: When so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, Jesus began to say to his disciples first, ‘Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.
  ‘I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.’

Without masks

Today, Jesus warns us against hypocrisy, the leaven that gradually spreads through our hearts and leads us to pretend to be something we are not, presenting an image of ourselves that does not reflect who we truly are. But no mask can hide us from God: He knows our hearts, our intentions and our weaknesses, too.

And the same happens in marriage. We often want our spouse to see the best version of ourselves, so we hide the things we find difficult to acknowledge: our selfishness, our pride, our anger, our insecurities… We may pretend that everything is fine while resentment builds up inside us, and we often struggle to say: “I was wrong”, “Please forgive me”, “I’m hurting” or “I need your help”. We are afraid of showing our weaknesses, of being judged by the other person, or of having our wounds used against us.
Yet we are called to something much greater. We are called to a shared intimacy, to live in communion (a common union) with one another and with Christ. And this intimacy begins to grow when we stop protecting our image and start opening our hearts. It is not about saying everything to each other without charity, but about learning to speak with humility and love.

Jesus invites us not to be afraid. Sometimes we find it difficult to take that first step towards asking for forgiveness, admitting a mistake or approaching our spouse after an argument. But we can take that step, trusting that God will sustain us. We cannot control our spouse’s response, but we can choose to love and act in truth.

Am I living my marriage from a place of trust or fear? Am I trying to be right or to build unity? Do I hide my weaknesses, or do I allow God to transform them?

Bringing it into Married Life:

Yvonne: Hello, darling, I’m home! What a day I’ve had! Haven’t you made anything for dinner? I’m absolutely exhausted! It feels as though I have to think of everything!
James: Well, I’ve come home tired too! It’s as though what I do never counts.
Yvonne: Fine, I’ll sort it out again! You just stay on the sofa, as usual!
James (thinking): I think I’ll pray an Our Father and ask the Lord for help so that this doesn’t turn into another argument… Our Father, who art in heaven…
James: I’m sorry, darling. I got defensive. The truth is, I’m exhausted, and I sat down for a moment without thinking that you needed a rest too.
Yvonne: And I’m sorry for speaking to you like that. I’m feeling overwhelmed, and instead of telling you I need help, I take it out on you.
James: We need to learn to share the light the Lord gives us, to share what is in our hearts, without hiding behind our anger or always wanting to be right.
Yvonne: Yes. Today, Jesus tells us not to be afraid. I want to rely on you more and stop assuming that I have to manage everything on my own.
James: And I want to stop making excuses and learn to listen to you. Let’s make dinner together.