YOU KNOW NOT THE HOUR OR THE DAY

"Life is not fair" the MKR would respond when we would whine about not getting our way, things not working out, requests not being met.

My last week? "Unfair" might be the weakest adjective ever. Someone disappointed me, more than I've ever been disappointed before in my life. And so I had to look up and ask for help and humble myself and realize that sometimes God puts you on the right path, as painful and difficult as it is to switch tracks.

My house that I love and adore and is everything I've ever wanted? I'm leaving it behind. And, you know, you say those words like "it's just a house" and "they're just THINGS" but those are the comforts - the stairs you know that you count silently as you descend them in the morning, the settings on the shower, the places where the doors creak and you know you shouldn't touch them when he is sleeping or he'll wake up. It's OK; we will find that somewhere new, with new creaks and new settings and nuances.

And then my precious little came home last night with an awful cough and a raging fever and the fury I felt in my heart at the thought of him suffering at the hands of someone's ignorance made me want to throw something. Literally, throw something.

Have I not experienced enough heartache? Have I not walked the rough patch?

And then I sat in Mass, alone, under the stares of sympathy from people who know me and know what's going on. And I listened to the Gospel and I listened to Father speak. And I was reminded that life isn't fair. There aren't breaks. At least not for me. And so I seek Him for strength and guidance and the faith to keep my lamp filled with oil, so that I may always be prepared for whatever this life brings to me. Because the light is so very, very bright and worth it.

Gospel, Mt 25:1-13

'Then the kingdom of Heaven will be li ke this: Ten wedding attendants took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.Five of them were foolish and five were sensible:the foolish ones, though they took their lamps, took no oil with them,
whereas the sensible ones took flasks of oil as well as their lamps.

The bridegroom was late, and they all grew drowsy and fell asleep. But at midnight there was a cry, "Look! The bridegroom! Go out and meet him." Then all those wedding attendants woke up and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish ones said to the sensible ones, "Give us some of your oil: our lamps are going out." But they replied, "There may not be enough for us and for you; you had better go to those who sell it and buy some for yourselves." They had gone off to buy it when the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding hall and the door was closed. The other attendants arrived later. "Lord, Lord," they said, "open the door for us." But he replied, "In truth I tell you, I do not know you."

So stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour.