Light Your Lamps And Be Vigilant

October 24, Tuesday of the Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Memorial of Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop
Daily Readings: First reading: Romans 5:12. 15b. 17–19. 20b–21; Gospel: Luke 12:35–38

We are invited in our Gospel today to live in the present moment. We have the tendency to live in the past or in the future. Being vigilant requires us to stay attentive to what is going on inside and outside of ourselves.

The Christmas lanterns in the Philippines always fascinate me. All gets lit up, expecting Christmas. We are very aware of the season in which we are living because we have lights and lighted lamps all around to remind us. The image of the lamp in the Gospel is a metaphor for our faith, keeping us aware and attentive to the seasons of our lives; it is an image of living awake.

However, the natural process of dealing with reality would be awareness, thought, and action, in that order. Yet, we have the ability to do things exactly the other way around. We act, then we think about what we did and become aware of our intentions and attitudes.

Speaking in Jesus’s terms is like walking in darkness, and eventually we realize we need light. This shows the incapacity of some of us to live in the present, to have the light on, so to speak. Jesus calls blessed and happy the one who is able to live in a constant state of awareness, the one who has the lamp on. Amazingly enough, when we live in this kind of awareness, we will realize how much more ready we are to manage, with ease, the problems of daily life.

Are there areas of ourselves in the dark, areas that might need light, like relationships, or maybe obscure and insincere ways of dealing with life affairs?

What measures can I take to be able to live with more attentiveness in life? with my lamp (faith) on?