2010 년 8 월 26 일 연중 제 21 주간 목요일 제 1 독서 코린토 1 서 . 1 , 1 - 91 하느님 의 뜻 에 따라 그리스도 예수 님 의 사도 로 부르 심 을 받 은 바오로 와 소스 테네스 형제 가 2 코린토 에 있 는 하느님 의 교회 에 인사 합니다 . 곧 , 그리스도 예수 님 안 에서 거룩 하 게 되 어 , 다른 신자 들 이 사 는 곳 이 든 우리 가 사 는 곳 이 든 , 어디 에서 나 우리 주 예수 그리스도 의 이름 을 받들 어 부르 는 모든 이 들 과 함께 성도 로 부르 심 을 받 은 여러분 에게 인사 합니다 . 3 하느님 우리 아버지 와 주 예수 그리스도 에게서 은총 과 평화 가 여러분 에게 내리 기 를 빕 니다 . 4 나 는 하느님 께서 그리스도 예수 님 안 에서 여러분 에게 베푸신 은총 을 생각 하 며 , 여러분 을 두 고 늘 나 의 하느님 께 감사 를 드립니다 . 5 여러분 은 그리스도 안 에서 어느 모로 나 풍요 로워졌 습니다 . 어떠 한 말 에서 나 , 어떠 한 지식 에서 나 그렇 습니다 . 6 그리스도 에 관한 증언 이 여러분 가운데 에 튼튼히 자리 를 잡 은 것 입니다 . 7 그리하여 여러분 은 어떠 한 은사 도 부족 함 이 없이 , 우리 주 예수 그리스도 께서 나타나 시 기 를 기다리 고 있 습니다 . 8 그분 께서 는 또한 여러분 을 끝 까지 굳세 게 하 시 어 , 우리 주 예수 그리스도 의 날 에 흠잡 을 데 가 없 게 해 주 실 것 입니다 . 9 하느님 은 성실 하 신 분 이 십니다 . 그분 께서 당신 의 아드님 우리 주 예수 그리스도 와 친교 를 맺 도록 여러분 을 불러 주 셨 습니다 복음 마태오 . 24 , 42 - 51 그때 에 예수 님 께서 제자 들 에게 말씀 하 셨 다 . 42 “ 깨 어 있 어라 . 너희 의 주인 이 어느 날 에 올지 너희 가 모르 기 때문 이 다 . 43 이것 을 명심 하 여라 . 도둑 이 밤 몇 시 에 올지 집 주인 이 알 면 , 깨 어 있 으면서 , 도둑 이 자기 집 을 뚫 고 들어오 도록 내버려 두 지 않 을 것 이 다 . 44 그러 니 너희 도 준비 하 고 있 어라 . 너희 가 생각 하 지 도 않 은 때 에 사람 의 아들 이 올 것 이 기 때문 이 다 . 45 주인 이 종 에게 자기 집안 식솔 들 을 맡겨 그 들 에게 제때 에 양식 을 내주 게 하 였으면 , 어떻게 하 는 종이 충실 하 고 슬기 로운 종 이 겠 느냐 ? 46 행복 하 여라 , 주인 이 돌아와서 볼 때 에 그렇게 일 하 고 있 는 종 ! 47 내 가 진실로 너희 에게 말 한다 . 주인 은 자기 의 모든 재산 을 그 에게 맡길 것 이 다 . 48 그러나 만일 그 가 못 된 종 이 어서 , 마음속 으로 ‘ 주인 이 늦 어 지 는구나 . ’ 하 고 생각 하 며 , 49 동료 들 을 때리 기 시작 하 고 , 또 술 꾼 들 과 어울려 먹 고 마시 면 , 50 예상 하 지 못한 날 , 짐작 하 지 못한 시간 에 그 종 의 주인 이 와서 , 51 그 를 처단 하 여 위선자 들 과 같 은 운명 을 겪 게 할 것 이 다 . 거기 에서 그 는 울 며 이 를 갈 것 이 다 . ” http : / / www . usccb . org / nab / August 26 , 2010 Thursday of the Twenty - first Week in Ordinary TimeReading 11 Cor 1 : 1 - 9 Paul , called to be an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God , and Sosthenes our brother , to the Church of God that is in Corinth , to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus , called to be holy , with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ , their Lord and ours . Grace to you and peace from God our Fatherand the Lord Jesus Christ . I give thanks to my God always on your accountfor the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus , that in him you were enriched in every way , with all discourse and all knowledge , as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you , so that you are not lacking in any spiritual giftas you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ . He will keep you firm to the end , irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ . God is faithful , and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son , Jesus Christ our Lord . Responsorial PsalmPs . 145 : 2 - 3 , 4 - 5 , 6 - 7 R . ( 1 ) I will praise your name for ever , Lord . Every day will I bless you , and I will praise your name forever and ever . Great is the LORD and highly to be praised ; his greatness is unsearchable . R . I will praise your name for ever , Lord . Generation after generation praises your worksand proclaims your might . They speak of the splendor of your glorious majestyand tell of your wondrous works . R . I will praise your name for ever , Lord . They discourse of the power of your terrible deedsand declare your greatness . They publish the fame of your abundant goodnessand joyfully sing of your justice . R . I will praise your name for ever , Lord . GospelMt 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 househad known the hour of night when the thief was coming , he would have stayed awakeand 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 householdto 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 dayand at an unknown hour and will punish him severelyand assign him a place with the hypocrites , where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth . ” http : / / www . staygreat . com / http : / / www . franciscanretreats . net / I read a little story that illustrates the Gospel for today that I ’ ll share with you . It is the story of some young and inexperienced devils who are about to leave hell for earth to practice tempting human beings . Their teacher asked each of them as they were leaving what method they were going to use to get the people to sin . The first said he planned to use the classical approach and tell the people “ There is no God , so sin all you want . ” The second said he was going to use the intellectual method and tell the people “ There is no hell , so sin all you want . ” And the third said he decided to use the subtle approach and tell them “ There is no hurry , so sin all you want . You can always repent and be better later on . ” Jesus tells us in today ’ s Gospel to stay awake always and do what he would have us do . Then we don ’ t have to worry at all about when he is going to come for us . http : / / www . evangeli . net / gospel / gospel . html http : / / www . creighton . edu / CollaborativeMinistry / daily . htmlYou do not know on which day your Lord will come . We don ’ t know the day or the hour . We have to be prepared and be vigilant . Stay awake ! My dad died a few weeks ago , unexpectedly . He had been sort of sick , but was being treated . He was in the hospital a few days before he died , but the day before he was much better . The doctors had said he was stronger and breathing better , and they thought he was on the road to recovery . Then that night he took a turn for the worse and died the next day . We didn ’ t know it would be that day , that hour . But even as we hoped for the best , we prepared for the worst , I guess . My mom and sister and I were with him all the time at the hospital . His sister brought his mom in to visit – my grandma is 90 years old and could not drive herself from Missouri . Even though we hadn ’ t expected him to die , we ended up being glad Grandma got to come see him . In an episode of the Simpsons , Bart says he plans to live a debauched life and then go for a deathbed conversion . I guess that works if you know when you ’ re going to die , but since you don ’ t always know the day or the hour , that plan can backfire . Luckily , my dad did not really have to worry about that either . He had spent his whole life devoted to family , giving to charity , helping anyone who needed help . My folks were always ‘ bringing home strays . ’ My mom was always feeding neighbor kids . My dad always stopped to help when someone was stranded at the side of the road . We wished he ’ d been more prepared in another way : he had several different bank and brokerage accounts and left no records . He worked his whole life to prepare so my mom would be taken care of financially , and now we can ’ t find the money ! I ’ m sure it will all work out eventually , but now it ’ s been frustrating trying to figure out what he had and where he had it . We also could not get into his computer because he had it password protected and we didn ’ t know the password . He wasn ’ t prepared for the eventuality that someone else would have to deal with his computer and his accounts . Jesus says to be ready at any time . When the boss is away , the employees will goof off . But if the boss comes back early , the employees who are doing their work will be rewarded , and those who are partying will be let go . We need to be ready at any time . We don ’ t know when our time is up and we can ’ t always count on having time to make things righthttp : / / www . rc . net / wcc / readings / " If you knew in what part of the night the thief was coming , you would have watched ! ” If the person you loved the most was away for a long time , wouldn ' t you look forward to their return and even prepare for their homecoming ? The Lord Jesus , who died for our sins and rose again to restore us to eternal life with the Father in heaven , has promised to return again for our sake . That day when the Lord returns will be joy and peace for those who are prepared – but grief and loss for those who have neglected or lost their faith . If you knew that a thief in the night was about to strike your home and threaten your life , wouldn ' t you seek to protect yourself from harm ' s way ? Jesus ' parable of the thief in the night brings home the necessity for watchfulness and being on guard to avert the danger of plunder and destruction , especially under the cover of darkness and secrecy ! While no thief would announce his intention in advance , nor the time when he would strike , lack of vigilance would nonetheless invite disaster for those who are unprepared to keep their treasure and their lives secure at all times ! The intruder strikes when he is least expected ! What is the treasure which the Lord Jesus wants us to guard lest we lose it ? It is the treasure of his kingdom – a kingdom of righteousness , peace , and joy in the Holy Spirit ( Romans 14 : 17 ) . We can lose heaven and friendship with God if we allow Satan – the deceiver and father of lies – to rob us of our faith and trust in God ! The Lord Jesus fortunately does not leave us on our own – he stands watch with us to guide , direct , and keep us from harms ' s way . Jesus ends his teaching on watchfulness and vigilance with another parable about a master and his servants ( Matthew 24 : . 45 - 49 ) . The storyline is similar . There is an element of surprise – the master suddenly returns home unexpectedly , probably from a long journey . He rewards the dutiful servant for his faithfulness to his master . He has performed his service with diligence and has done all that the master required of him . The master punishes the other servant who behaved wickedly . This servant was not only irresponsible – he was frequently absent from work and spent his master ' s money by throwing endless parties with his friends . The wicked servant also abused his fellow workers with physical force and violence – probably to make them do the work he was supposed to do for his master . The master not only throws him out of his house , he fires him from his job ! He also throws him into the worst possible place – a prison of no return where there is nothing but torment and misery . Should we be surprised to see the master acting with such swift judgment ? After all he is only giving back what they have given to him . The master rewards the faithful servant with honor , promotion , and friendship , and he punishes the unfaithful servant – who stole from his master and used his position to abuse others – by removing him from his position of trust with the master and by throwing him into prison for robbing the master and mistreating his fellow servants . The Lord has entrusted each of us with his gifts and grace – the grace to love God with faithfulness , trust , and obedience – and the grace to love our neighbor as ourself . Do you love faithfulness ? The Lord Jesus calls us to be vigilant in watching for his return and to be ready to meet him when he calls us to himself . The Lord gives us his Holy Spirit so that we may have the wisdom , help , and strength we need to turn away from sin to embrace God ' s way of love , justice , and holiness . The Lord ' s warning of judgment causes dismay for those who are unprepared , but it brings joyful hope to those who eagerly wait for his return in glory . God ' s judgment is good news for those who are ready to meet him . Their reward is God himself , the source of all truth , beauty , goodness , love and everlasting life . “ Lord Jesus , you have captured my heart and it is yours . Take it that I may have you alone as my treasure and joy . Make me strong in faith , steadfast in hope , and generous in love that I may seek to please you in all things and bring you glory . ” Psalm 145 : 2 - 7 2 Every day I will bless thee , and praise thy name for ever and ever . 3 Great is the LORD , and greatly to be praised , and his greatness is unsearchable . 4 one generation shall laud thy works to another , and shall declare thy mighty acts . 5 on the glorious splendor of thy majesty , and on thy wondrous works , I will meditate . 6 Men shall proclaim the might of thy terrible acts , and I will declare thy greatness . 7 They shall pour forth the fame of thy abundant goodness , and shall sing aloud of thy righteousness . http : / / www . daily - meditations . org / index 2 . html http : / / www . contemplative . com / weekday _ readings . htmLook at two words from the Lord in this Gospel . They are direct verbs of command . " Watch . " " Be ready . " Spirit of Christ , awaken all the powers of my inward self to be vigilant , watchful , alert . Like a deer at the edge of the forest , alert with all ears attuned to possible danger . Every thing about this animal is readiness . So let me be attuned in my prayer to your Presence and to the delicacy of your touch and suggestion . So it must be . For all things will come to an end . only your Kingdom is permanent and abiding . I want to abide with you for all eternity for you are my love and my life . " A day when we do not expect : " brings to mind the last things , the final Day of your return and the establishment of your Kingdom . Each prayer is a decision . Each prayer is the Day of Judgement . Prayer is eschatological — the wicked servant will weep and gnash his teeth . Save me from the hell of eternal regret . http : / / goodnews . ie / calendar . phpMaster Zuigan called to himself every day , “ Master ! ” and answered , “ Yes , sir ! ” Then he would say , “ Be wide awake ! ” and answer , “ Yes , sir ! ” “ Henceforth , never be deceived by others ! ” “ No , sir , I won ' t ! ” He was playing at being two people ; but he knew it , and that made all the difference . When I play at being two people and I ’ m not conscious of it , then I really am divided in two , and I don ’ t know who ’ s asleep and who ’ s awake . Zuigan knew . With him it was conscious play , and therefore he could stop playing whenever he wished . The unconscious games are the ones that control me and that never end . There are games I have been playing all my life : ‘ I ' m an innocent victim ’, or ‘ I can trust no one ’, or ‘ Everyone ought to be helping me ’, or ‘ Nobody cares ’, or ‘ I ’ ll never have enough ’, or ‘ I ’ m not one of them , anyway ! ’ or ‘ The world is gone to hell , ’ or ‘ Nobody understands me ’, or ‘ I should be in charge here ’, or ‘ What ’ s the use ? ’…. These , and a thousand others , are ways of being asleep . All real religious teachers , whatever their differences , have one thing in common : they all say , “ Wake up ! ” The whole world , you might say , is trying to wake up . Perhaps it ’ s still early morning in human civilisation ! When Zuigan said to himself , “ Never be deceived by others , ” I presume he didn ’ t mean only people . He also meant circumstances . Don ’ t be deceived by anything . But ultimately it ’ s not circumstances that deceive us ; it ’ s only we who deceive ourselves . http : / / www . presentationministries . com / COMING SOON " He will strengthen you to the end , so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ . " � 1 Corinthians 1 : 8 We know Jesus is coming a second and final time , but we don ' t know when . " You cannot know the day your Lord is coming " ( Mt 24 : 42 ) . This motivates us to " stay awake " and be prepared . Each day we put in a good day ' s work for the Lord . " Happy that servant whom his master discovers at work on his return ! " ( Mt 24 : 46 ) We try not to fight with our fellow servants ( Mt 24 : 49 ) . The awareness of Jesus ' final coming helps us see things in the right perspective . Time and eternity are too precious to be entangled with petty disagreements and selfish jealousies . Also , we refrain from getting too involved with the foolish pleasures of the world . In the light of Jesus ' second coming , material things lose much of their value . Jesus ' final coming is not only concerned with life after death . It is also a positive , motivating , freeing reality which transforms our lives before death . His second coming is and will be such a wonderful part of God ' s plan of salvation . We rejoice in the final day the Lord has made and try to hasten it by our repentance , intercession , and evangelization ( 2 Pt 3 : 12 ) . With the believers of all time , we cry out : " Maranatha ! Come , Lord Jesus ! " ( see 1 Cor 16 : 22 ) He answers : Soon and " very soon " ( Rv 1 : 1 ) . Prayer : Lord , I want to be ready . I give my life to You . Do with me as You want . Promise : " I continually thank my God for you because of the favor He has bestowed on you in Christ Jesus , in Whom you have been richly endowed with every gift of speech and knowledge . " � 1 Cor 1 : 4 Praise : once fearing the final coming of Jesus , Dora now longs for the coming of her Savior . http : / / www . judeop . org / daily _ bread . htm You must be prepared , for at an hour you do not expect , the Son of Man will come . Just today I received a long , anguished e - mail from a man whose father is dying . My friend is in his 60 s , his father in his late 80 s , yet there is this tone of surprise and even outrage throughout the letter . “ How could this be happening ? ” my friend seems to be asking . In our part of the world , we can live our whole lives without witnessinga death . And even for those who are privileged witnesses — ministers and medical folks — death often seems sudden . But death is and we can ’ t afford to be like another quite elderly friend of mine , who occasionally begins a sentence with , “ If I die … ” If ? Lord Jesus , make me ready , joyfully ready , to meet you face to face . Pbs http : / / www . judeop . org / dailyhomilette 2 . htm http : / / www . judeop . org / dailyreflections . htm http : / / biblereflection . blogspot . com /