[stephenkhoo]

Scripture Reflections
Sunday, 13 November, 2011, 33rd Ordinary Week, Year A
ACCOUNTABILITY: LIVING IN THE PRESENT FROM THE FUTURE

SCRIPTURE READINGS: PRV 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31; 1TH 5:1-6; MT 25:14-30 (or 25:14-15, 19-21)

Truly, the way the world views human life is indeed most pitiable. This is the only life we have. We live only for this world without hope for life beyond. Death is the end of everything. Hence, we live insecurely, believing that life is short. We live under the threat of death each day. It is not surprising therefore that we try to prolong life, or at least deny the reality of death through cosmetic makeover and cloning.

What is the root cause of a world that no longer values life and the special dignity of every human being? It is the denial of God and therefore the denial of the human soul. This is what the responsorial psalm is reminding us when we respond: “Blessed are those who fear the Lord!” When man no longer believes in God, he has no fear or reverence for God as the author of life; he has supplanted His position as God. Without faith in God, man, who is limited, has to resign to the fact that his life will end in death.

Indeed, today, as we celebrate the penultimate Sunday of the Church’s liturgical year, the Church wants us to think about the end. This is not to make us shirk our responsibility in this life and live in the future; rather, in view of the future, so that we will take this life seriously. We can live out our lives fully only in view of the end.

What then is the end like? This is an important question. For Christians, as St Paul says, “it is not as if you live in the dark, my brothers, for that Day to overtake you like a thief.” Yes, we know that life does not cease with death but continues for eternity. Our faith tells us that we are waiting for the Second coming of Christ. When He comes, the kingdom of God will be established and everything will be returned to the Father when God will be all in all. But before that happens, there will be death, then judgment, heaven and hell.

The liturgy wants to impress on us the idea of judgment, which is linked with the question of accountability. There will be a day of reckoning. We are invited to take stock of ourselves because we will be accountable to God for the things we have done or failed to do. So between the ascension of Christ and His second coming, our life on earth is a sojourn. We are pilgrims passing through. As the gospel says, the master might be long in returning, but the time of accountability is inevitable.

Hence, we must always be prepared because He can come any time and we will be called to give an account of ourselves at our death. Yes, St Paul warns those of us who procrastinate in putting our lives in order: “you know very well that the Day of the Lord is going to come like a thief in the night. It is when people are saying, ‘How quiet and peaceful it is’ that the worst suddenly happens, as suddenly as labour pains come on a pregnant woman; and there will be no way for anybody to evade it.” So let us not deceive ourselves into thinking that we are still young and healthy, because we do not know when the Lord is calling us back.

How then should we be prepared for death? One thing we should not do is to speculate the date of His Second Coming. By so doing, instead of confronting the possibility of death, we postpone the decision to begin living. The thought of His Second Coming should rather prompt us into taking this life seriously. It should make us realize the urgency of living our lives fully today, as life is a continuity. The truth is that what we do now determines the future. That is why, the Lord reminds us to be faithful in small things. The master told the good servant, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have shown you can be faithful in small things, I will trust you with greater; come and join in your master’s happiness.”

We must live with one eye on the present and the other eye on the future. Until the Second Coming of Christ, we have been given the Holy Spirit to continue Christ’s mission on earth. We are called to labour in the kingdom, fulfilling our vocation in life as the way we cooperate in building the kingdom of God on earth. So regardless of our state of life and our vocation, whether we are parents, teachers, workers or professionals, like the servants in today’s parable, we must be ready to account for the talents given to us by the Lord for the building of His kingdom.

We are called to be faithful to our responsibilities in life by living whichever state of life we are in. The reason why we are fearful of death is because we are living a double life. Although married, we are living an adulterous life; although paid well, we are not doing our work responsibly but cheating the company; although given so many talents and opportunities, we have squandered them away. Unless we are faithful to our calling in life, we cannot be at peace. Having a clean and clear conscience is the way to prepare ourselves so that we need not worry about when the Lord is coming. What is important now is that we must live fully in the present.

How can we find the strength to live responsibly and fully in the present? We must keep our other eye on heaven, that is, to live from the future in the expectation of the parousia. To live from the future means to measure life from the perspective of eternity. How do we measure our lives? Often, we measure in terms of our past, where we were or even in the temporality of tomorrow. Indeed to see life in perspective means that we see it from the perspective of God. The psalmist tells us that a thousand years to us is only one day to the Lord. Only then will we realize that our life is very short when compared to eternity. The month of November is dedicated to praying for the Holy Souls to remind us of the brevity of this life so that we are realistic enough to know that our sojourn on this earth will come to an end. So are our sufferings and our earthly pleasures on earth.

Aware that we often have no strength to go through the trials of life, to live from the future is therefore to live from the power that Christ gives us already in and through our baptism, which is a sharing of the sonship of Christ. Having already received the grace to conquer sin and Satan, we can already live as children of the light and day; not as slaves of sin and the Evil one. We have the scriptures to guide us to walk in the truth. We have the sacraments to strengthen us to grow in grace and holiness. We have received all the graces that we need in our vocation.

Finally, the key to living from the future is indeed the fear of the Lord. Only when we fear the Lord, will we begin to live responsibly. This fear of the Lord calls for reverence for His majesty and power. Yes, we must live from Christ and be totally dependent on Him. Only then can we live confidently and joyfully, regardless of the challenges we face in life. We must not depend on ourselves and on our strength or wisdom. We must turn to the Lord in prayer for enlightenment and courage.

When we die, God will not ask us whether we were somebody, but whether we have been faithful according to the talents he has given to us. Yes, to fulfill the plan of God and cooperate in His Kingdom does not require us to do great things. We simply have to do what is required of us according to what the Lord has given to us. Some are given more and some are given less. The parable tells us that we are only accountable for what we can do, not for what we cannot do.

Are we complacent in assuming responsibilities in our life? There is a warning for those of us who are irresponsible in life. Like the last servant in today’s parable, by doing the minimum and not taking risks in giving up our lives for the love and service of others, by postponing and procrastinating, we will not only be depriving ourselves of the fullness of this life but life hereafter as well.

Let the parable be a wake-up call for us. We must take stock of our lives and ask for a conversion of heart. The most painful thing in life is to regret. We do not have to wait until we are at our death bed to regret the way we lived our lives. It will be too late. We will condemn ourselves. It will not be God condemning us. So the choice is ours. We must act immediately and not procrastinate any longer.

If we make the decision to live today fully and responsibly, then happiness is already ours. And if our lives are in order, there is nothing to fear about death or the second coming of Christ. St Augustine puts it so aptly. If we do not resist His first coming, we will not resist His second coming.