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TALENTED LIKE A "PERFECT WIFE"

Fr. Louis Birabaluge, sx

Nov 16, 2017
546

33rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

It’s interesting to notice how many times the verb to “entrust” is repeated in the Gospel of this 33rd Sunday year A. To all the servants, the master entrusts his property. It’s all about trust and confidence because then the master went way. He left them free to make use of the talents received as they wish. Here appears the first good news for us from this Gospel: God, the true Master has confidence in every one of us. He wants all of us to be part of his business, his kingdom. And in his generosity, no one is unfortunate. No one is left with empty hands. As the servants of the parable, each one of us has been entrusted according to his ability (Mt 25: 15).

The attitude of the last servant- the one to whom the master entrusted one talent- is the exact opposite to that of his master. While the Master trusts all his servants, he shows himself to be fearful, unable to take any risk. Instead of fructifying the talent entrusted to him, he prefers to keep his hands clean in burying it in the ground (Mt 25: 25). The judgment of the master is well known. He calls this servant wicked, lazy, good-for-nothing whose final place is into the darkness outside (Mt 25: 30).

A second teaching from this Gospel comes to light here following the attitude of the last servant: without fructifying the talent we have received from the God, the Master, we will be called wicked, lazy, good-for-nothing and our final place is into the darkness where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. This statement of the Gospel is not a call to keep God’s commandments because we are afraid of the fire of hell. If it’s the case, our image of God is a fake image, just as the one of the wicked servant. Our God is a merciful God, a just Judge who warns us and gives us a second chance. He trusts us and gives us all means to ‘stay awake’ (1Ths 5: 6) until his Day comes.

The first two servants who took a risk and fructified the talents received are called ‘good and faithful servants’. The master invites them to share his joy (Mt 25: 21.23). Their reward is exactly the same as for those who recognised the Lord in the hungry and gave him food, in the thirsty and gave him drink, in a stranger and welcomed him, in the naked and clothed him...(Mt 25: 34-36). Therefore, to fructify the talent entrusted to us and to love becomes the way given to us while waiting for the Master to come and asking to us the account of his property.

On this journey, beyond the limits imposed by a particular vision of a woman’s role, the attitude of the ‘perfect wife’ described in the book of Proverbs (31: 20)- 1st reading of this Sunday- is a concrete way for us to fructify the talents received. As her, being talented means to care concretely for the poor and the needy. Indeed, we listen to this parable of the talents on a Sunday which Pope Francis wants to be celebrated as the “first world day for the poor”. He reminds us that our call as Christians is to love not in words but in deeds and truth (1Jn 3: 18). These words of the ‘beloved disciple’ says the Pope in his message for this day, have to be taken seriously by all of us  who claim to be the disciples of Jesus, and especially in our days where there is a contrast between the empty words so frequently on our lips and the concrete deeds against which we are called to measure ourselves. 

In the Gospel, the poor- materially, spiritually or morally- are not mainly beggars, objects of our charitable actions, quite often fortunate to receive some leftover from our wallets. The Gospel identifies them with Jesus Christ: whatever you did or did not…for them, you did or did not…for the Lord (Mt 25: 40. 45). Thus encountering the poor is to encounter Jesus Christ himself.  In his message for this day Pope Francis reminds us this Gospel’s demand:  “We may think of the poor simply as the beneficiaries of our occasional volunteer work, or of impromptu acts of generosity that appease our conscience.  However good and useful such acts may be for making us sensitive to people’s needs and the injustices that are often their cause, they ought to lead to a true encounter with the poor and a sharing that becomes a way of life.  Our prayer and our journey of discipleship and conversion find the confirmation of their evangelic authenticity in precisely such charity and sharing.  This way of life gives rise to joy and peace of soul, because we touch with our own hands the flesh of Christ.  If we truly wish to encounter Christ, we have to touch his body in the suffering bodies of the poor, as a response to the sacramental communion bestowed in the Eucharist”.

As we celebrate this first world day for the poor, may the words of Pope Francis become a reality in the life of each one of us. This new World Day, says  the Pope, therefore, should become a powerful appeal to our consciences as believers, allowing us to grow in the conviction that sharing with the poor enables us to understand the deepest truth of the Gospel”.

33rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

It’s interesting to notice how many times the verb to “entrust” is repeated in the Gospel of this 33rd Sunday year A. To all the servants, the master entrusts his property. It’s all about trust and confidence because then the master went way. He left them free to make use of the talents received as they wish. Here appears the first good news for us from this Gospel: God, the true Master has confidence in every one of us. He wants all of us to be part of his business, his kingdom. And in his generosity, no one is unfortunate. No one is left with empty hands. As the servants of the parable, each one of us has been entrusted according to his ability (Mt 25: 15).

The attitude of the last servant- the one to whom the master entrusted one talent- is the exact opposite to that of his master. While the Master trusts all his servants, he shows himself to be fearful, unable to take any risk. Instead of fructifying the talent entrusted to him, he prefers to keep his hands clean in burying it in the ground (Mt 25: 25). The judgment of the master is well known. He calls this servant wicked, lazy, good-for-nothing whose final place is into the darkness outside (Mt 25: 30).

A second teaching from this Gospel comes to light here following the attitude of the last servant: without fructifying the talent we have received from the God, the Master, we will be called wicked, lazy, good-for-nothing and our final place is into the darkness where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. This statement of the Gospel is not a call to keep God’s commandments because we are afraid of the fire of hell. If it’s the case, our image of God is a fake image, just as the one of the wicked servant. Our God is a merciful God, a just Judge who warns us and gives us a second chance. He trusts us and gives us all means to ‘stay awake’ (1Ths 5: 6) until his Day comes.

The first two servants who took a risk and fructified the talents received are called ‘good and faithful servants’. The master invites them to share his joy (Mt 25: 21.23). Their reward is exactly the same as for those who recognised the Lord in the hungry and gave him food, in the thirsty and gave him drink, in a stranger and welcomed him, in the naked and clothed him...(Mt 25: 34-36). Therefore, to fructify the talent entrusted to us and to love becomes the way given to us while waiting for the Master to come and asking to us the account of his property.

On this journey, beyond the limits imposed by a particular vision of a woman’s role, the attitude of the ‘perfect wife’ described in the book of Proverbs (31: 20)- 1st reading of this Sunday- is a concrete way for us to fructify the talents received. As her, being talented means to care concretely for the poor and the needy. Indeed, we listen to this parable of the talents on a Sunday which Pope Francis wants to be celebrated as the “first world day for the poor”. He reminds us that our call as Christians is to love not in words but in deeds and truth (1Jn 3: 18). These words of the ‘beloved disciple’ says the Pope in his message for this day, have to be taken seriously by all of us  who claim to be the disciples of Jesus, and especially in our days where there is a contrast between the empty words so frequently on our lips and the concrete deeds against which we are called to measure ourselves. 

In the Gospel, the poor- materially, spiritually or morally- are not mainly beggars, objects of our charitable actions, quite often fortunate to receive some leftover from our wallets. The Gospel identifies them with Jesus Christ: whatever you did or did not…for them, you did or did not…for the Lord (Mt 25: 40. 45). Thus encountering the poor is to encounter Jesus Christ himself.  In his message for this day Pope Francis reminds us this Gospel’s demand:  “We may think of the poor simply as the beneficiaries of our occasional volunteer work, or of impromptu acts of generosity that appease our conscience.  However good and useful such acts may be for making us sensitive to people’s needs and the injustices that are often their cause, they ought to lead to a true encounter with the poor and a sharing that becomes a way of life.  Our prayer and our journey of discipleship and conversion find the confirmation of their evangelic authenticity in precisely such charity and sharing.  This way of life gives rise to joy and peace of soul, because we touch with our own hands the flesh of Christ.  If we truly wish to encounter Christ, we have to touch his body in the suffering bodies of the poor, as a response to the sacramental communion bestowed in the Eucharist”.

As we celebrate this first world day for the poor, may the words of Pope Francis become a reality in the life of each one of us. This new World Day, says  the Pope, therefore, should become a powerful appeal to our consciences as believers, allowing us to grow in the conviction that sharing with the poor enables us to understand the deepest truth of the Gospel”.

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