Not Out of Fear but Love

Today Pope Francis said something intriguing about today's Gospel, which features a man who leaves his servants in charge when he is away abroad. He expects that when he arrives back the servants will be doing their assigned tasks and not lazily asleep. Pope Francis said that servants can be obedient to their Master out of fear. Or they can be obedient out of love. This is true for us! We can serve God out of fear or merely out of a sense of obligation. Or we can serve God because we love him. What does God hope for? That when we do out duty -- living our vocation, practicing our faith, serving one another, attending Mass, etc. -- that we do so out of love for God and not out of fear of punishment. Let us pray for this grace as we celebrate this First Sunday of Advent!