Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C
Reflecting on Lk. 12: 32-46
I love watching people who don’t know they’re being watched. I mean that as people come into our orbit, it’s edifying to see how they behave when they don’t know we’re watching them.
I remember my friend Celeste, decades before the environmental movement really got going, painstakingly removing a single sheet of paper from the printer and turning it over, so that the subsequent text could be printed on it. What really stood out about that to me was not only that she took the time to save a single piece of paper, but that, at some point, she took the time to memorize how to turn the paper around in the printer so the next page was printed correctly, not smashed on top of the previous text. (These are the technological skills that still impress me, all these years later.)
We should all be like the servants who are ready to open the door to their Master when he returns. They don’t have anything to hide, because they’ve been diligent and disciplined in doing the good work they’ve been assigned. I love those people, the ones who keep their homes bright and cheerful, by doing the tasks they perform when no one is looking.
Like Celeste, the servants faithful to the Church’s mandate to care for our common home are careful with every piece of paper, every recyclable plate, even when no one is watching. That is so hard! I worry about what my Master might say to me, asking why I haven’t been more careful with the earth’s resources.
Oh, but I’ve got DECADES to do better, right? No, the hour comes when we least expect it.
What good habits keep you ready for the Master?
Kathy McGovern ©2025