NINETEENTH 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 tolls. ‘When your last hour strikes count only on what you have become.’ (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)