The attitude of the soul that, day after day and hour after hour, watches vigilantly for the arrival of its Lord is so pleasing to God that Jesus exclaims in the parable he proposes to us:
**“Blessed are those servants whom the master finds watching when he returns! And, forgetting who is the servant and who the master, he sits the servant at the table and serves him himself.”** It is an infinite love that does not fear reversing the roles corresponding to each one: **“Truly I say to you, he will gird his loins, have them sit at the table, and coming near, he will serve them.”** The promises of intimacy with God go beyond anything we can imagine. It is worth being vigilant, with souls full of hope, attentive to the steps of the Lord who is arriving.
The heart that loves is alert, like the sentinel in the trench; the one who dwells in lukewarmness, sleeps. The state of lukewarmness resembles an inclined slope that separates further and further from God. Almost imperceptibly, a certain concern arises not to overdo it, to stay just enough to avoid falling into mortal sin, although venial sin is frequently accepted. And this attitude of little struggle and lack of personal self-demand is justified with reasons of naturalness, effectiveness, health, which help the lukewarm person to be indulgent with their small disordered affections, attachments to people or things, caprices, excessive tendency to seek greater comfort..., which come to present themselves as a subjective necessity. The soul’s strengths grow weaker and weaker until, if not remedied, they reach more serious sins.
The soul dozing in lukewarmness lives without true goals in the inner struggle that attract and inspire. It is just “getting by.” The commitment to being better has been abandoned, or a fictitious and ineffective struggle is carried on. There remains an emptiness of God in the heart that the lukewarm person tries to fill with other things, which are not God and do not fill; and a special and characteristic discouragement permeates the entire life of relationship with the Lord. Promptness and joy in self-giving are lost, and faith becomes dimmed precisely because love has grown cold. A state of lukewarmness has always been preceded by a series of small infidelities, whose guilt—not settled—is influencing that soul’s relationship with God.
**“Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning..., attentive to the steps of the Lord.”** This is a call to keep ourselves alert, with the daily struggle framed in very concrete points. No one was more attentive to the arrival of Christ on earth than His Mother, Holy Mary. She will teach us how to remain vigilant if we ever feel that this bad dream makes its presence in our souls.
**“Lord, how good You are to those who seek You! And how good You are to those who find You!”** We have found Him. Let us not lose Him.
HCD