Sister Kate’s “Gospel Question of the Week” (Luke 12: 32!48) …Weekend of 8/10!11/13 … 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time. In this weekend’s passage from the Holy Gospel, Jesus challenges his disciples (that includes all of us!) to trust the Father’s promise to give them eternal happiness in His kingdom. I don’t know about you, but ETERNAL HAPPINESS sounds great to me! I want to be in line when those tickets are passed out! In this Gospel passage, Jesus gives us the run down on how we can get one of those “tickets.” He tells us “to be prepared at all times, because the Son of Man may come at an unexpected hour either at the moment of death or at the end of the world.” I think what He means here is that whenever Jesus comes to “take us home” we need to be ready with a “clean heart.” Since we don’t know when Jesus will call us home, we need to spend every day “loving God and loving our neighbor.” Jesus uses the “master-servant parable” to illustrate the job that is ours in this everyday job…giving humble and sacrificial service to others. We need to stay “alert” to the needs of our brothers and sisters. One of the traditional means for remaining alert is prayer. Last week’s Gospel passage emphasized the importance of prayer. Such attentiveness demands that we set aside a quiet time for prayer every day. During this time we can tune our ears to the “sound of God”…divine sounds of love, harmony and peace. When we listen to God, then our hearts should be set on fire to “build the Kingdom of God” by combating poverty, by ending the hatred that divides us, by establishing peace among individuals, by curbing the pride that causes us to become confrontational, and by pushing for social structures that respect the dignity of individual humans. We must wait for the Lord in our daily lives by learning to see Jesus in the least of our brothers and sisters. In other words, we must be prepared to serve Jesus in whatever form he appears. whenever He appears! A few years ago, in a game against the Washington Nationals in San Francisco, Barry Bonds whacked his 756th homer, breaking the 33-year-old mark held by legendary player Hank Aaron. This was the 756th home run of Bonds' career, breaking a record that had stood for 33 years. None of the legendary players of the game like Yogi Berra, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays or the previous record holder Hank Aaron could accomplish it. But in spite of Bond’s miraculous achievement being tarnished by allegations of steroid use, another baseball player still lives in people’s hearts. It is Cal Ripken, the former baseball player for the Baltimore Orioles. He was a sports hero of two decades simply because he always showed up and gave his best and was ready for action at any time. He got ten national awards in ten years including 1996 Male Athlete of the Year and 2001 All-Star Game Most Valuable Player. He learned the principle that faithfulness demands consistency, commitment, and hard work. He never missed a single game in sixteen years of playing baseball! He earned the nickname "Iron Man" by playing in a record 2632 consecutive major league games. The string of successive games ran from May 30, 1982 to September 19, 1998. Perhaps Ripken's determination and Barry Bonds’ failure to live an allegation-free career by avoiding steroids, remind us of today’s Gospel which tells us that the joy and privilege of being a son or daughter of God carries with it the more awesome responsibility of being faithful to God everyday. The Gospel passage also reminds us that we should avoid the temptation to put off for tomorrow what Jesus expects of us today.GOSPEL HOMEWORK FOR THE WEEK: Take a few minutes every day this week…before you begin your day…to connect with God and promise God that you will seize the opportunities for love that He will send you that day!