Feast of St. Monica
August 27th, 2010
"Stay awake for you know neither the day nor the hour"
Matthew 25 : 13
The message in today’s liturgy is very clear : be ready for the coming of the Lord. We read in the Gospel that all ten virgins fell asleep. Five had enough oil to trim their lamps, the other five had a lack of forethought and were not ready for the arrival of the wedding party.
This parable of the ten virgins is applied to our waiting for the glorious coming of Christ. Our lamps will remain lighting if we protect them and keep the flame of prayer, faith and hope burning brightly.
Today’s Psalm gives us a portrait of the faithful soul thirsting for God. The lamp in that soul must be ready for God’s coming at any hour. When the call is heard, it is the light from within that recognises God’s voice. This light cannot be borrowed. It must be our own.
Prayer
Lord, help us to be vigilant day and night, men and women of prayer and aware of your spoken warning : "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour." Amen.
The prayer for each day has been prepared by various members of the Holy Family Association. All who visit our website are remembered in prayer. If you would like us to pray for a particular need, simply complete and submit the form on the right hand side of this page. You may wish to leave a comment in the space below.
Just a Thought
Hope
John XXIII, referred to as the ‘caretaker Pope’, realising the widening gap between the Church and the world of his day, wrote: “An old world is disappearing. Another one is being formed, and with this I am trying to conceal some good seed or other that will have its springtime, even if it is somewhat delayed, and comes after I’m dead.”
Thomas Merton writes: “One must not give in to defeatism and despair: just as one must hope for life in a mortal illness which has been declared incurable.”
Even when dark clouds surround us, even when everything appears to be falling apart, we must continue to believe for a better future. Whatever the problem, there is a way forward.
So, my hope is in God alone because I believe in him; this is my faith. It is in him I put my faith and that faith, my belief in God’s love for me and all his creation, is the bedrock in which like an anchor, I put my hope. Together with that hope and faith is my love and fidelity in responding to that God in whom I live and move and have my being. In him I place my hope.
“Hold fast to the hope that lies before us. This we have as an anchor of the soul” (Heb 6:15-19).
