\u201cIt is the Father\u2019s good pleasure to give you the kingdom\u201d (Luke 12:32). This little sentence sums up the whole of God\u2019s plan for humanity. God wishes us to share in his eternal goodness. God, however, does not want to accomplish his plan without our participation. In other words, God wishes us to be watchful servants – attentive to his will \u201clike those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet\u201d (Luke 12:36). We can only share in God\u2019s eternal goodness after attentively waiting for him and being faithful to his will. This life, then, is a trial \u2013 a testing ground that will lift us to heaven or damn us to hell.<\/p>\n
The Church teaches that human life is oriented to the four last things: (1) death; (2) judgment; (3) heaven and (4) hell. We all, invariably, will experience death. We all, invariably, will be judged. The only variable in this equation is our final resting place. Will we live in heaven or in hell?<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s gospel outlines how our eternal destination is determined. Jesus paints a picture of two servants. The first servant faithfully carries out his master\u2019s work. When his master returns, the master blesses the servant and puts him \u201cin charge of all his possessions\u201d (Luke 12:44). On the other hand, the second servant abuses the trust of his master and beats the other servants. When the master returns, he \u201cwill cut him in pieces, and put him with the unfaithful\u201d (Luke 12:46). Jesus\u2019 point is simple. The first servant goes to heaven and the second servant goes to hell \u2013 the only difference between the two is how they responded to God\u2019s request to be faithful servants.<\/p>\n
Through God\u2019s grace, we are all capable of being faithful servants. We are all capable of inheriting the kingdom of heaven. God himself desires to give us his kingdom and to set us in charge of all his possessions. The only thing that can cheat us out of our inheritance is ourselves. Let us pray, therefore, for God\u2019s grace to soften our hearts and strengthen our wills, that we might receive his kingdom and share in all he possesses.<\/p>\n
Ian Mahood<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 St. Joseph Seminary, Edmonton, Alberta<\/p>\n Fot. Ben White\/Unsplash.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 19th\u00a0Sunday in Ordinary Time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,17,18],"tags":[44,170,88],"class_list":["post-2093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-strona-glowna-najnowsze","category-strona-glowna-slider","tag-god","tag-ian-mahood","tag-life"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n