Fr. Jerome Pistoni sx
Website reflection of the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A 19th November, 2023
We are approaching the end of the Liturgical Year, and the three readings of the holy Mass have a common message: Christian life is real, effective, when it becomes an active service to our neighbours.
The Thessalonians were convinced that the final coming of Jesus was about to come.
For this reason, some of them stopped doing any work, and were living in idleness.
Paul urged them to abandon their passive attitude and to start fulfilling their duties in the community, forgetting when Jesus would come, because the Lord, “coming like a thief in the night”, had not reveal to anybody the time of his return.
Living our Christian life in idleness can be a real temptation for us Christians. The reasons for adopting this kind of behaviour can be various: believing that other people are already doing all the work, and therefore we are not needed; hiding behind our inability to do the task required, pretending that one is already too busy with other engagements and, therefore, there is no time to do any work in the church.
The first reading, instead, presents a good wife as a model of active Christian life.
“She is always busy…she does her works with eager hands…
She holds out her hand to the poor, she opens her arms to the needy”.
This is like the attitude of the first two servants of the parable of this Sunday, who are given a task by their Master.
They received talents and promptly, with initiative and hard work, set out to double the amount they were entrusted with. They were not deterred by the fear of failing.
As the saying goes: “those who do something, sometimes make mistakes, but those who do nothing, they are always wrong.” The third servant of the same parable, instead, preferred to play it safe, not to expose himself to the risk of failing, and for this reason he failed.
“The man who had received one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.”
What do the talents represent in this story?
It is a common understanding that the talents indicate abilities or qualities we have received from God and that we need to develop: the gift of singing, the ability of playing football, the attitude of being a person of reconciliation, the quality of good teaching, etc.
Is it really this the meaning of the talents in the parable told by Jesus?
If we accept this interpretation, we may find it difficult to explain this sentence:
“To one he gave five talents, to another two, to a third one; each in proportion to his ability.”
He gave the talents according to the qualities of each of them.
What is a talent then?
We find the answer if we reflect on our daily experience.
The prayer leader has been given the task of taking care of the people living in the same area. He needs to know them, to gather them when it is necessary, to lead them in prayer and to visit them when there is a need. The talents of the prayer leaders are the people present in his location.
In the same way the catechist of the parish has received from God talents to develop: the catechumens, who need to learn the content of the Christian faith, are his talents. He needs to instruct them, to strengthen them in their faith and to develop their love for Jesus and their neighbours. If the prayer leader and the catechist succeed, they are like the first two servants of the parable.
Husband and wife have received from God precious talents: their own children. The parents are called to deeply care for their children and help them grow into Christian committed adults. They spend years with this challenging but at the same time important mission. Will they be able, after a few years, to present to the Master their children, transformed into mature Christians who are able to serve God and neighbours?
It is a serious and responsible task but quite possible.
Pope Francis, in his homily at the closing of the October 2023 Synod on synodality, shows us the essential elements required to become active and responsible servants of the Lord:
“Not our strategies, our human calculations, the ways of the world, but love of God and neighbour: that is the heart of everything. And how do we channel this momentum of love? I would propose two verbs, two movements of the heart, on which I would like to reflect: to adore and to serve.
We love God through adoration and service.
- The first verb, to adore. To love is to adore. Adoration is the first response we can offer to God’s gratuitous and astonishing love. The amazement of adoration, the wonder of worship, is something essential in the life of the Church, especially in our own day in which we have abandoned the practice of adoration. To adore God means to acknowledge in faith that he alone is Lord and that our individual lives, the Church’s pilgrim way and the ultimate outcome of history all depend on the tenderness of his love. He gives meaning to our lives.
- The second verb is to serve. To love is to serve. In the great commandment, Christ binds God and neighbour together so that they will never be disconnected. There can be no true religious experience that is deaf to the cry of the world. There is no love of God without care and concern for our neighbour; otherwise, we risk becoming pharisaic. We may have plenty of good ideas on how to reform the Church, but let us remember: to adore God and to love our brothers and sisters with his love, that is the great and perennial reform. To be a worshiping Church and a Church of service, washing the feet of wounded humanity, accompanying those who are frail, weak and cast aside, going out lovingly to encounter the poor.”
Have a nice Sunday. Fr. Jerome Pistoni sx
Website reflection of the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A 19th November, 2023
We are approaching the end of the Liturgical Year, and the three readings of the holy Mass have a common message: Christian life is real, effective, when it becomes an active service to our neighbours.
The Thessalonians were convinced that the final coming of Jesus was about to come.
For this reason, some of them stopped doing any work, and were living in idleness.
Paul urged them to abandon their passive attitude and to start fulfilling their duties in the community, forgetting when Jesus would come, because the Lord, “coming like a thief in the night”, had not reveal to anybody the time of his return.
Living our Christian life in idleness can be a real temptation for us Christians. The reasons for adopting this kind of behaviour can be various: believing that other people are already doing all the work, and therefore we are not needed; hiding behind our inability to do the task required, pretending that one is already too busy with other engagements and, therefore, there is no time to do any work in the church.
The first reading, instead, presents a good wife as a model of active Christian life.
“She is always busy…she does her works with eager hands…
She holds out her hand to the poor, she opens her arms to the needy”.
This is like the attitude of the first two servants of the parable of this Sunday, who are given a task by their Master.
They received talents and promptly, with initiative and hard work, set out to double the amount they were entrusted with. They were not deterred by the fear of failing.
As the saying goes: “those who do something, sometimes make mistakes, but those who do nothing, they are always wrong.” The third servant of the same parable, instead, preferred to play it safe, not to expose himself to the risk of failing, and for this reason he failed.
“The man who had received one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.”
What do the talents represent in this story?
It is a common understanding that the talents indicate abilities or qualities we have received from God and that we need to develop: the gift of singing, the ability of playing football, the attitude of being a person of reconciliation, the quality of good teaching, etc.
Is it really this the meaning of the talents in the parable told by Jesus?
If we accept this interpretation, we may find it difficult to explain this sentence:
“To one he gave five talents, to another two, to a third one; each in proportion to his ability.”
He gave the talents according to the qualities of each of them.
What is a talent then?
We find the answer if we reflect on our daily experience.
The prayer leader has been given the task of taking care of the people living in the same area. He needs to know them, to gather them when it is necessary, to lead them in prayer and to visit them when there is a need. The talents of the prayer leaders are the people present in his location.
In the same way the catechist of the parish has received from God talents to develop: the catechumens, who need to learn the content of the Christian faith, are his talents. He needs to instruct them, to strengthen them in their faith and to develop their love for Jesus and their neighbours. If the prayer leader and the catechist succeed, they are like the first two servants of the parable.
Husband and wife have received from God precious talents: their own children. The parents are called to deeply care for their children and help them grow into Christian committed adults. They spend years with this challenging but at the same time important mission. Will they be able, after a few years, to present to the Master their children, transformed into mature Christians who are able to serve God and neighbours?
It is a serious and responsible task but quite possible.
Pope Francis, in his homily at the closing of the October 2023 Synod on synodality, shows us the essential elements required to become active and responsible servants of the Lord:
“Not our strategies, our human calculations, the ways of the world, but love of God and neighbour: that is the heart of everything. And how do we channel this momentum of love? I would propose two verbs, two movements of the heart, on which I would like to reflect: to adore and to serve.
We love God through adoration and service.
- The first verb, to adore. To love is to adore. Adoration is the first response we can offer to God’s gratuitous and astonishing love. The amazement of adoration, the wonder of worship, is something essential in the life of the Church, especially in our own day in which we have abandoned the practice of adoration. To adore God means to acknowledge in faith that he alone is Lord and that our individual lives, the Church’s pilgrim way and the ultimate outcome of history all depend on the tenderness of his love. He gives meaning to our lives.
- The second verb is to serve. To love is to serve. In the great commandment, Christ binds God and neighbour together so that they will never be disconnected. There can be no true religious experience that is deaf to the cry of the world. There is no love of God without care and concern for our neighbour; otherwise, we risk becoming pharisaic. We may have plenty of good ideas on how to reform the Church, but let us remember: to adore God and to love our brothers and sisters with his love, that is the great and perennial reform. To be a worshiping Church and a Church of service, washing the feet of wounded humanity, accompanying those who are frail, weak and cast aside, going out lovingly to encounter the poor.”
Have a nice Sunday. Fr. Jerome Pistoni sx