Preparing through work and play

These days of warmth and sunshine permit us to change our routines a little bit.  Adults take time for some rest and relaxation, we learn to re-create and we may even take time to play.  No matter what age we are, it is always good to allow ourselves a bit of time for unstructured play: it allows children to act out their favorite stories and to recreate the adventures of their heroines and heroes.  Such unstructured activities have a purpose: they provide us with the opportunity to prepare ourselves for our future.

From one Sunday to the next, we are invited to reflect on what the future will hold.  We do this through stories, parables and lessons that we hear in this place.  The Book of Wisdom, from which we read today, tells us of a people who were enslaved in Egypt, yet were preparing for a new life that was to come.  These people trusted in the promises of God for the deliverance of the righteous and the destruction of their enemies.  Even before their release from bondage, already they were singing the praises of the ancestors (Wis 18:6-9).  How often do we give thanks for the holy people who have preceded us, shared the gift of faith with us and helped us to grow in our own faith?

The Letter to the Hebrews reminds us of the lives of great women and men of the Old Testament.  It shows us how their faith sustained them no matter what challenges they faced.  Abraham continued to believe, even when he was asked to sacrifice his only son (cf Heb 11:8-10).  Have we developed such wholehearted trust in God?

Luke's parables about the alert slaves and the faithful manager (cf Lk 12:35-40) call us to be ready for whatever may come.  Where is our treasure?  Where is our heart?  These weekly passages and our daily actions, whether at play or at work, continually help us to live God's word.