19th SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
‘See that you are dressed for action and have
your lamps lit’
‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ is the best selling
memoir of all time written by American author
Mitch Albom about a series of 14 visits he
makes to his former sociology professor Morrie
Schwartz who is terminally ill. During these
Tuesday visits Morrie gives Mitch his final
moving lesson on life. In one of his most striking
contributions, Morrie suggests to his former
student that ‘everybody knows they are going to
die, but nobody believes it. If we did we would
do things differently’. If we learn how to die,
according to Morrie we learn how to live. If we
are honest, we will admit that we do indeed keep
death at arms’ length and consequently we have
loose ends in our lives, things left undone, or
half-done or not even attempted. We convince
ourselves that time is on our side, but there
is nothing so fatal as to feel we have plenty of
time. We need a healthy appreciation of the
brevity of life and its’ destination. Morrie is in
tune with Jesus’ teaching in today’s Gospel,
which directs us to be on our guard and have
our lamps lit because we don’t know the day or
the hour when the bell will toll for us. When
that bell tolls it will matter little what we have
amassed in terms of worldly possessions. What
will matter is what we have made of ourselves,
whether we have remained faithful and how we
have loved. Love is the measure by which we
will be judged, the kind of love that shapes all
we think, speak and do, the kind of love that
leaves us at rights with our God and with our
brothers and sisters, the kind of love that ensures
that we are dressed for action when the bell toll.
‘When your last hour strikes count only on
what you have become.’ (Antoine de Saint-Exupery).
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