I have to admit, I am not the best housekeeper.  I like to have a neat, clean house, but cleaning isn’t always my top priority.  There are other things I’d rather be doing and, often enough, there are more important activities occupying my time. I am quite motivated to clean the house, however, if I know we have guests coming over.  Then I really get to work and sometimes exhaust myself trying to catch up on the cleaning I “should” have been doing all along.  I want to make a good impression on our guests as well as help them feel comfortable in our home.  If I run out of time preparing, though, I may take some shortcuts, shoving things into closets or the basement telling myself I will get to those things another time when I’m not so rushed.  I tell myself that some day I’ll go through all the closets and cupboards and basement storage and sort through everything, discarding the junk and organizing the things I want to keep.  Some day…

 

Well, today’s gospel (Matthew 24: 42-51) isn’t exactly about housekeeping, at least not in the physical sense.  But it is about a sort of spiritual housekeeping, having your spiritual house in order.  It’s about being prepared for the most important houseguest – God.  Jesus, again, uses parables to instruct his disciples to be prepared for God’s final coming, “Stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.” (vs 42)  He was warning them about becoming lax or complacent in their faith and in living their lives as followers of Jesus.  Theses teachings were a part of the teachings that Jesus shared with his disciples shortly before his death and resurrection.  Perhaps he realized that while they may be motivated and quite committed to living their newly discovered faith in Jesus at the onset, there would later be the challenge of remaining prepared when they were unsure of the final coming. 

 

From a practical standpoint, I know that whereas I am motivated and enthusiastic about preparing my home for our guests when I’m initially expecting them, if they were not to arrive that evening or the next day or later that week, I would start to lose my motivation to continue to keep things in order for their eventual arrival of an undetermined day and time.

 

I think this is what we are being cautioned about on a spiritual basis.  We do not know when God’s final coming will be and we do not know when our own life will end, but we must keep our hearts ready, we must keep our spiritual house in order and prepared for our Lord’s arrival at any time.  Are we ready to see God face to face? Are we ready to show God around our spiritual house?  Are there some closets or rooms in the basement or attic that we would not want our Creator to open?

 

In today’s first reading (Corinthians 1: 1-9), Paul is addressing the people of Corinth and encouraging them in their faith.  This letter reminds us as Jesus’ disciples today that we are “called to be holy” and we are “called to fellowship” with Jesus Christ our Lord.  Let us invite Jesus into our spiritual home, even if it is not “in order.”  Let us ask Jesus to help us prepare our hearts and clean out the shameful, hidden closets of our lives. Often our greatest treasures can be found there amidst the junk.  May we remain awake and not grow complacent as we wait to meet God face to face.

 

- Eileen Miller