There’s little doubt that the parable in today’s gospel is about our accountability to the mission entrusted to us
when we were washed in the waters of Baptism and anointed priest prophet and king and given the fullness of the Spirit in confirmation. It’s about our willingness to be risk takers in our calling to commit ourselves to revealing
Gods kingdom of truth and justice and peace.
What made the third servant in our story fail, while the others succeeded? He said he was afraid of his master because he was demanding. Jesus said he was lazy.
And what about us? Which of those servants are we most like? Do we invest the gifts God has given us in finding creative ways to make him known, or like the 3rd servant do we bury those gifts either because we’re afraid of God or because we’re just too lazy to make the effort?
We’re all familiar with the adage: “The older you get, the more conservative you become,” which is another way of saying the less risks you’ll take. For some that’s true, but not always. Angelo Roncalli is a good example. Elected Pope John XXIII at the age of 78, he was a man, who in his old age, took a tremendous risk, one that changed our church forever.
On January 6, 1959, the year I graduated from High School, just a few months after his election as Pope, John surprised the Church by announcing his plans to convene a worldwide council. He knew it was a risk. He knew time-honored church traditions would be shaken, old friends would be alienated, the serenity of his old age upset by controversy.
Worst of all, he knew the entire plan might fail. He could not be absolutely sure the work of the Lord would e advanced by opening doors on liturgical change, on dialogue with Protestants and even non Christians, on religious freedom, on conscience, on the roll of the church, and so much more.
But, Pope John prayerfully decided to take that risk – and for one reason. He believed the Catholic Church, like the 3rd employee in today’s gospel had taken the priceless gift of God’s love and buried it like a treasure, and that by calling a council, that love could be re-invested and brought to the world again.
And, so at a time in his life when other people sit back, Old John, took a new risk for the kingdom of God.
He certainly was a model of the first two persons in today’s Gospel parable.
Those of us, on the other had, who model the 3rd servant haven’t heard the call or understood it, or were afraid either of it or of God, or we’re just too lazy or selfish to make it a priority in our lives.
Somehow we manage to avoid God’s penetrating transformation of our lives. And we do that, I think, by fitting God into our own small preconceptions of who God is, and in the process, we whittle him down to our size. We deal with him to keep him from dealing with us.
Certainly we believe he was not just the greatest man who ever lived……… he was God. And so, We write countless words about him, his message, his call. We preach about him and sing songs about him. We honor his mother with untold number or rosaries, and his saints with one novena after another.
And the result is that we become fanatical about his birth and death and resurrection. We turn him as I once heard, into a captured hero of casual religion. We make him more of a VIP to be honored than a God to be listened to and understood and followed.
Like the 3rd servant we take the gift’s he has given us and we dig a hole and bury it. We guard the status quo, and hold his gift of love in a tight circle of private religion and personal security.
Today let’s Promise God we will do everything necessary to break out of that cycle. Let’s begin to invest in and begin to live the Scriptures, especially passages like the beatitudes and the 25th Chapter of Matthew so that we can begin to live them. Let’s begin to study and understand the teachings of our church, especially Catholic Social Teaching
so we can begin to live it. Then, strengthened by both the Scriptures, the teachings of our Church, all that which makes us Catholic, we will open ourselves to the power of the Holy Spirit, and like Pope John and so many countless others - young and old we too will give the gifts of our talents, our treasure, and out time, not holding anything back,
to the work of making God know in all ways and means possible.
when we were washed in the waters of Baptism and anointed priest prophet and king and given the fullness of the Spirit in confirmation. It’s about our willingness to be risk takers in our calling to commit ourselves to revealing
Gods kingdom of truth and justice and peace.
What made the third servant in our story fail, while the others succeeded? He said he was afraid of his master because he was demanding. Jesus said he was lazy.
And what about us? Which of those servants are we most like? Do we invest the gifts God has given us in finding creative ways to make him known, or like the 3rd servant do we bury those gifts either because we’re afraid of God or because we’re just too lazy to make the effort?
We’re all familiar with the adage: “The older you get, the more conservative you become,” which is another way of saying the less risks you’ll take. For some that’s true, but not always. Angelo Roncalli is a good example. Elected Pope John XXIII at the age of 78, he was a man, who in his old age, took a tremendous risk, one that changed our church forever.
On January 6, 1959, the year I graduated from High School, just a few months after his election as Pope, John surprised the Church by announcing his plans to convene a worldwide council. He knew it was a risk. He knew time-honored church traditions would be shaken, old friends would be alienated, the serenity of his old age upset by controversy.
Worst of all, he knew the entire plan might fail. He could not be absolutely sure the work of the Lord would e advanced by opening doors on liturgical change, on dialogue with Protestants and even non Christians, on religious freedom, on conscience, on the roll of the church, and so much more.
But, Pope John prayerfully decided to take that risk – and for one reason. He believed the Catholic Church, like the 3rd employee in today’s gospel had taken the priceless gift of God’s love and buried it like a treasure, and that by calling a council, that love could be re-invested and brought to the world again.
And, so at a time in his life when other people sit back, Old John, took a new risk for the kingdom of God.
He certainly was a model of the first two persons in today’s Gospel parable.
Those of us, on the other had, who model the 3rd servant haven’t heard the call or understood it, or were afraid either of it or of God, or we’re just too lazy or selfish to make it a priority in our lives.
Somehow we manage to avoid God’s penetrating transformation of our lives. And we do that, I think, by fitting God into our own small preconceptions of who God is, and in the process, we whittle him down to our size. We deal with him to keep him from dealing with us.
Certainly we believe he was not just the greatest man who ever lived……… he was God. And so, We write countless words about him, his message, his call. We preach about him and sing songs about him. We honor his mother with untold number or rosaries, and his saints with one novena after another.
And the result is that we become fanatical about his birth and death and resurrection. We turn him as I once heard, into a captured hero of casual religion. We make him more of a VIP to be honored than a God to be listened to and understood and followed.
Like the 3rd servant we take the gift’s he has given us and we dig a hole and bury it. We guard the status quo, and hold his gift of love in a tight circle of private religion and personal security.
Today let’s Promise God we will do everything necessary to break out of that cycle. Let’s begin to invest in and begin to live the Scriptures, especially passages like the beatitudes and the 25th Chapter of Matthew so that we can begin to live them. Let’s begin to study and understand the teachings of our church, especially Catholic Social Teaching
so we can begin to live it. Then, strengthened by both the Scriptures, the teachings of our Church, all that which makes us Catholic, we will open ourselves to the power of the Holy Spirit, and like Pope John and so many countless others - young and old we too will give the gifts of our talents, our treasure, and out time, not holding anything back,
to the work of making God know in all ways and means possible.
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