personal responsibility and accountability - 32nd week friday 2013

The message of today’s gospel is as simple as it sounds but the hardest to face.  On that night there will be two men in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.  Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.  What is the message of today’s gospel?  It is this:  there will be times in my life when I have to face things alone.  There will be times in my life when somebody will say to me, from now on you are on your own.  There will be times in my life when my very own survival will not depend on anybody else but me.  There will be times in my life when I will have to single handedly, unaided by anybody, fight for what I believe.  Finally there will be times in my life when I have to face the consequences, when I have to stop blaming anyone for what ails my life, when I have no one to blame but myself. 

When we have the community with us we feel strong, for we feel their support and their encouragement.  But this cannot happen all the time.  There will be times when on his own an individual must chart his own destiny, make his own decisions, solve his own problem, and made to bear the consequence of his neglect, alone and unaided.  This is the time when he is made to realize that affiliations can only do as much, that his friends could do no more and that there are circumstances in life wherein he alone call the shots.  Today our gospel reminds us of personal responsibility and accountability.