Tuesday 29th week in ordinary time "Lk 12:35-38" "Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the marriage feast, so that they may open to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes; truly, I say to you, he will gird himself and have them sit at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those servants!" Have you ever been caught red–handed doing something you were not supposed to do? It's an awkward feeling, isn't it? Do you remember Adam and Eve embarrassed, trying to hide themselves after their sin? 'Awkward historical moment': where could you hide from God? But of course, if we were always doing what we ought to do we wouldn't need a hiding place, would we? This is called 'unity of life'. Unity of life is that feature of lives of the saints which ensured they were always doing the right thing, because they realised that God is always with them. If your mum, your dad, your teacher or priest was there with you, how would you behave? Well, God is there. He is not like a busybody watching you through CCTV cameras all the time to know what you are doing. He is a Father who has an eye on His children because He loves them. If I could remember that God is always at my side, watching what I do, He would surely be proud of me. One day, suddenly, time will be over and we will go to meet Him as we are... as we have been. In the year 79 AD, Pompeii, a roman city in Naples, was buried under 4 to 6 metres of lava and ash in the sudden eruption of Mount Vesuvius. It was so sudden that most of the 11,000 inhabitants had no chance to run away. When the place was discovered in 1599, archaeologists realised that the exact size and position of people, dogs and objects could be recovered just by filling holes they found in the lava with plaster and removing the lava once the plaster set: the sentinel was at his post, a dog wandering in the streets, some people sleeping, a mother protecting her baby. How will God find me at the end of my life? Mary, my Mother, help me to be always ready like a faithful servant.