Holy Perseverance

Homily
NINETEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR (C)
12 AUGUST 2007

Luke 12: 32 - 48

[Luke 12:32] Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.
[Luke 12:33] Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy.
[Luke 12:34] For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.
[Luke 12:35] "Gird your loins and light your lamps
[Luke 12:36] and be like servants who await their master's return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.
[Luke 12:37] Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.
[Luke 12:38] And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants.
[Luke 12:39] 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.
[Luke 12:40] You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come."
[Luke 12:41] Then Peter said, "Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?"
[Luke 12:42] And the Lord replied, "Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute (the) food allowance at the proper time?
[Luke 12:43] Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so.
[Luke 12:44] Truly, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property.
[Luke 12:45] But if that servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed in coming,' and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk,
[Luke 12:46] then that 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 unfaithful.
[Luke 12:47] That servant who knew his master's will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely;
[Luke 12:48] and the servant who was ignorant of his master's will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.
--------------------

1. Introduction

In today's Gospel, Our Lord admonishes each of us to strive for the virtue of holy perseverance. He does this by reminding us that here we have no lasting home. We are to persevere in doing good, avoiding evil, and being ready at every moment of our lives to render an account of our conduct when He comes as our judge.

2. We are Always to be Prepared

Our Lord admonishes us:

"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."

Our Lord is telling us to be prepared for His coming at every moment of our lives. St. Basil the Great expresses this as follows:

What is the mark of a Christian? It is to watch daily and hourly and to stand prepared in that state of total responsiveness pleasing to God, knowing that the Lord will come at an hour that he does not expect.

2.1 "Gird your Loins"

The expression "gird your loins" seems somewhat archaic to contemporary listeners. The word "loins" in its primary meaning refers to the area between the ribs and the hips, where a belt goes. In the ancient world, most clothing resembled a robe--"girding the loins" referred to tucking the clothes hanging below the waist up into a belt or cincture, so that the person could move with increased agility. The Israelites were told to "gird their loins" on the night of the Passover, to be ready to flee Egypt.

[Exo 12:11] "This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you shall eat like those who are in flight. It is the Passover of the LORD.

For the Christian, Pharaoh symbolizes Satan, and Egypt symbolizes the unredeemed portion of the world over which Satan is still the usurping prince. As the Israelites fled Egypt with their loins girt, Our Lord is telling us that we are perpetually to be ready to leave this world on short notice. He says to us:

"You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come."

2.2 "Light your Lamps"

In addition to "girding our loins", Our Lord also tells us to "light our lamps". Cyril of Alexandria says of this passage:

The lamp represents the wakefulness of the mind.... We say that the human mind is awake when it repels any tendency to slumber off into that carelessness that often is the means of bringing it into subjection to every kind of wickedness. When sunk in stupor, the heavenly light within the mind is liable to be endangered, or even already is in danger from a violent and impetuous blast of wind. Christ commands us to be awake.

Cyril is telling us to beware of the spiritual sloth called "acedia", which literally means "without caring", whereby the soul becomes sluggish and sinks into a state of not caring about spiritual realities.

2.2 "The Master's Return from the Wedding"

Our Lord's Second Coming will be a return from the Wedding Feast of heaven. What we say of His Second Coming also applies in a particular way to His coming as our judge at the end of our earthly lives. He cautions us to be ready for His return. That is, He is exhorting each of us to holy perseverance.

3. Our Particular Judgment

Each of us is will be judged under two criteria:

1. The good we have done and the evil we have endured.

2. the spiritual and material gifts we have been given.

3.1 The Good we Have Done and the Evil we Have Endured

Christian conduct which leads to salvation consists in doing good and avoiding evil. Our Lord tells us in Matthew 16:

[Mat 16:27] For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct.

Each of us also will be judged as to how well we have endured evil:

[Luke 6:22] Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.
[Luke 6:23] Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.

3.2 The Spiritual and Material Gifts we Have Been Given

Our Lord distributes spiritual and material gifts as He will. To the Jews, He granted salvation as the fulfillment of the Old Law. To the Greeks (who represent all non-Jews), He granted salvation as a freely given gift outside of the strictures of the Old Law. He holds all men accountable for their actions at their particular judgment--however, He holds the Jews to stricter account than the Greeks, as we read in Romans 2:

[Rom 2:6] (God) will repay everyone according to his works:
[Rom 2:7] eternal life to those who seek glory, honor, and immortality through perseverance in good works,
[Rom 2:8] but wrath and fury to those who selfishly disobey the truth and obey wickedness.
[Rom 2:9] Yes, affliction and distress will come upon every human being who does evil, Jew first and then Greek.
[Rom 2:10] But there will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, Jew first and then Greek.

More broadly, He cautions each one of us in today's Gospel:

Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.

St. Augustine comments on this passage as follows:

You see that this passage shows clearly a person who knows sins more seriously than one who does not know. Yet we must not on this account take refuge in the darkness of ignorance so as to find there an excuse for our conduct. Not to know is one thing; unwillingness to know is another.

4. Holy Perseverance

St. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 9:

[1 Cor 9:24] Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race, but only one wins the prize? Run so as to win.

We are always to be prepared for Our Lord's coming, at our particular judgment, at the end of our earthly lives. That is, He is exhorting each of us to holy perseverance.

Let us now say a prayer for holy perseverance:

O sovereign and eternal God, I thank You for having created me; for having redeemed me by means of Jesus Christ; for having made me a Christian by calling me to the true faith, and giving me time to repent after the many sins I have committed. O Infinite Goodness, I love You above all things; and I repent with all my heart of all my offences against You. I hope You have already pardoned me; but I am continually in danger of again offending You. For the love of Jesus Christ, I beg of You holy perseverance till death. You know my weakness; help me, then, and permit me never again to separate myself from You. Rather let me die a thousand times, than ever again to lose Your grace. O Mary, my Mother, obtain for me holy perseverance!