Dear Christ the King Family,
I love my Dad for many reasons, one of them being many of the funny “catchphrases” and sayings he would often say as my sisters and I were growing up (They were kind of like verbal memes before memes became such a common part of internet culture). Like those commercials for the past few years from Progressive about young adults turning into their parents, I find that for myself the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, so you’ll probably hear a lot of these from me (intentionally or unintentionally) as time goes on!
Like all kids, my sisters and I would give my parents a run for their money in many ways, because parenting is not easy! One of these was that we would often devise ways to negotiate and make deals about the kind of chores and responsibilities we were expected to do around the house. I remember approaching my parents (multiple times over the years) with some sort of itemized list I devised that listed every chore and my compensation for it: 50 cents each time I took out the trash, 25 cents each day for clearing off the table (and a bonus 25 for loading the dishwasher!), 1 dollar per week for a tidy room upon parental inspection, etc. etc.…Although the first time I presented this my parents were willing to play along and sign on the dotted lines I penciled in for each of them, the fact of the matter is that often I was not so diligent on my end of the contract as I had promised. So when I would present this contract with updated figures (adjusted for inflation) in the years to follow, my Dad would refuse to sign and usually responded with (here’s the catchphrase): “This house isn’t Survivor! This isn’t outplay, outwit, outlast!” In other words, being a family isn’t all about transactions, compensations, and getting the better of each other, but we share this life in its joys and responsibilities together.
That lesson comes to mind as we hear the words of our Gospel passage this Sunday. Our Lord compares the actions/behavior of the vigilant servants with those who try to take advantage seemingly of their Master’s late arrival. For the latter servants, the mindset is “what can I get out of this for myself?” The truth, though, is that this mindset has never been what Christian discipleship is about. Maybe at times we think we can strike a deal with God, get the better of Him, or that his heavenly reward is a fair compensation that we earn for “checking off the boxes”. But God has already forged the new and eternal Covenant with us in His own Blood, and He has paid the price for our sins! He offers not compensations, but Himself as gift. Our discipleship is not about trying to “outwit, outplay, and outlast” God and dread his Coming with fear, but to embrace the calling and vocation God offered us with faith and anticipation for a joy and completion beyond compare.
And feel free to use that catchphrase in your home if you’d like…no royalties necessary!
In Christ,
Fr. David
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