Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time (October 24, 2017): Are you 'burning ready'?

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke.

Jesus said to his disciples: 
“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.
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.
And should he come in the second or third watch
and find them prepared in this way,
blessed are those servants.”

“Let your lamps be burning ready,” Jesus says in today’s Gospel reading. To “gird your loins” means to be ready for action. Is the light of Christ within you “burning ready”? Not just lit, but ready to join the Master on an adventure conquering the territory of darkness?

What’s the fire in you? What do you feel passionate about that’s useful to the Lord? A fire cannot burn long without the fuel of desire.

If you’re uncertain about what the Lord wants to do through you that will help fill this world with his light and make it more heavenly, look for the fire within you. God placed it there.

Look for the fire that burns because of the hardships you’ve endured. Look at any burning desire: What do you secretly (or openly) wish you could do for the kingdom of God? In your parish? In your home? In your workplace? When you imagine yourself doing it, does your heart pound with an energetic yearning? If so, you’ve found your calling. Don’t overlook this fire. God put it there for his purposes and plans. The path he’s laid before you might not be clear, but put a foot forward and start moving! Jesus will reveal the next step and then the next and then the next.

If you’re like me, you want to run ahead of him because of all the passion that’s pumping through your soul, but we must let Jesus lead the way. He knows far better than we do about the perfect timing, the right strategies, and the true path to success.

If you feel inadequate and overwhelmed by the task ahead, take a closer look at our first reading for today: “Where sin abounds, grace abounds the more.” God’s grace, combined with your passion, will make a difference in this world, despite how small and insignificant your light seems to be!

God’s power so greatly surpasses all evil, and his love and concern for us is so strong, that when we smother our flames with our sins, he provides grace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and in the Penitential Rite at Mass. If, for example, you need help in loving someone who’s been causing you problems, ask God to give you his supernatural love for that person, and by his grace you will receive it. You really will!

God’s abundant grace is always readily available to increase our faith, to strengthen our resolve, and to make us successful when we say no to evil and yes to replacing it with God’s goodness. However, to make use of this grace, we have to be “burning ready,” eager.

To succeed in conquering the territories of darkness, we have to feel so passionately about it that Christ’s light glows brightly within us.

It’s not we who change the world. It’s the presence of God within us, burning like a furnace in which no evil can survive. All we have to do is (1) be burning ready, and (2) follow Jesus every step of the way.

Are you ready for an adventure?

My Lord: I thank You and praise You, because You teach me that everything in this world is temporary, and You encourage me to be alert and detached from the world to reach the great goal. Amen.