Thursday 31 August 2023

Today is Thursday the 31st of August, in the 21st week of Ordinary time.

Oculi mei ad Dominum Deum: ‘My eyes are on the Lord God.’ As you enter into prayer today, are your eyes on the Lord God?

Oculi mei ad Dominum Deum
Like the deer that yearns for running streams
So my soul is yearning for my God
My tears have become my bread day and night
As I hear it said: ‘Where is your God?’
Oculi mei ad Dominum Deum
By day the Lord will send His loving Spirit
By night I will sing praises to the God of my life
Send our Your light and Your truth as my guide
To lead me to Your holy ground
Oculi mei ad Dominum Deum
Then shall I go to the God of my joy
Singing praise, praise on the lyre and the harp
Why so downcast my soul?
Put your hope and trust in my Saviour, my God
Oculi mei ad Dominum Deum

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Matthew.

Matthew 24:42-51

Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

‘Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their allowance of food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions. But if that wicked slave says to himself, “My master is delayed”, and he begins to beat his fellow-slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know. He will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

How do you feel about today’s passage? Uneasy perhaps. Fearful.

“Keep awake!” “Be ready!” What response does this urgent call evoke in you?

What might a ‘faithful and wise’ response be like in modern terms? How might Jesus best ‘find us at work’ on his return? Slogging away at getting things right or muddling through, alongside other people?

What if being ready meant simply keeping alive your response to the love of God? Allowing God to accompany you on every step of your journey, your journey of service, with all its highs and lows.

As you hear the passage again, imagine Jesus speaking the words directly to you.

As this prayer time comes to a close, speak to the Lord, as one friend to another, about what it means to you to be ready. Ask God to respond.


Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.