We may complain that we do not know when we are going to die, but it is precisely this not knowing that adds drama to our lives. There is a good tension - like the healthy tension of properly plucked strings on a guitar or piano - that only gives energy, "music," to existence. Jesus tells a parable today about a master who has gone away, leaving his servants to take care of the house in his absence. What will they do? How will they behave? Will they keep the house in order for his return? And will the eldest servant take care of the other servants and give "to the servants the food at their own time".?
I have known several faithful priests who have died, some quite young, giving to their people their "food at your own time"We also hear about people who die under bad circumstances. We also hear, unfortunately, of people who die in bad circumstances: a man who falls dead while misbehaving with a woman who is not his wife; someone who dies taking drugs; the woman who neglected her duties for a life of selfishness... They were not prepared when the Lord came for them and they risk the dire punishment of which Christ speaks: the master. "will punish him severely (more literally: cut it in two) and will make him share the fate of those who are not faithful.".
Parents give their children their nourishment at the right time, not only through physical nourishment, but also by ensuring that they receive the spiritual and human formation they need at every stage of their lives, introducing them to prayer, helping them to deepen their faith and virtues....
We also "feed" our fellow "servants" with our example, with those conversations in which we say the right thing at the right time, opening new horizons for them.
There is a holy vigilance that leads us to be attentive to the needs of those in our care, helping them not to go astray with timely and, hopefully, early intervention. But there is also a vigilance to listen to what God wants to tell us: as the first reading tells us, the Israelites were vigilant to listen to God's warning through Moses on that "night of deliverance" and so were saved from the avenging angel. Or, as we read in the second reading, Abraham heeded God's call to leave his land of idolatry and follow the one true God into the unknown. Faith lived is a supreme form of vigilance.
