The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

August 10, 2025 – Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Luke 12:32-48

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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You are reading these words during summertime. Soon it will be Fall. Then comes Winter and so forth. Each major season seems to have its own spirit. We also divide time into daily segments. Daytime and nighttime. Work time and leisure. Football season will soon begin. Thus, a time for this and a time for that. And we adjust our activities, and even our attitudes, accordingly. Years back I had a pastor whose name was Miller. When we met, I’d remind him that it was Miller time.

The Catholic Church also divides time into the seasons of the liturgical year. We are now in Ordinary Time. Later this year we will enter Advent, then Christmas, then Lent and so forth. There are good reasons for dividing time in this way. It encourages us to enter the spirit of each time. For instance, Christmastime for gift-giving and Eastertime for encouraging hope. Some days might be thought holier than others, like Sunday, called “the Lords’ Day.”

I spent part of my younger years as a vowed religious. Each day was filled with its rituals and prayers. Before each meal, a passage from an epistle of St. Paul was read that went this way: “Whether you eat or drink, of whatsoever you may do, do all for the glory of God.” That was a reminder that all meals (and everything else that day) was sanctifying. God did not come and go but was present at all times of the day and night. The challenge was (and remains) are we present to God?

When I decided to pursue a career as a Catholic theologian, I focused my studies and research on the life that I had recently begun as a husband and then as a dad. I delved into not only Catholic thought, but also other Christian traditions. Honestly, I did not find much related to marriage and family life in Catholic circles. This somewhat surprised me because most followers of Christ were married and were parents. But I also learned that most Catholic theologians were unmarried monks and priests. This prompted me to write my doctoral dissertation on the theology of marriage and family life.

I have now spent more than five decades teaching and writing about the holiness present in all areas of life, but especially in the often-overlooked settings for of marriage and family life. Today’s gospel is about always being prepared to receive God’s invitation to follow that ways of Jesus. It literally comes 24/7 every day. In whatever we do. All time is sanctified time.

David M. Thomas, PhD