November 13, 2011
Thirty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time A
By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ
Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting; the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Give her a reward for her labors, and let her works praise her at the city gates. Proverbs 31:30-31
But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, for that day to overtake you like a thief. For all of you are children of the light and children of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober. 1 Thessalonians 5:4-6
For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Matthew 35:29-30
Piety
Our piety is what and how we use the talents God has given us for the service of Christ. Our piety is seen by how the Lord multiplies the good we do with wonderful and miraculous fruits. It shows itself in the gratuitous and self sacrificing love we have for our family and our friends. It shines out in the way our talents seem to grow by the generosity of our lives. In the paradox of the Christian life we can only have what we have given away. There is no waiting for a job that is worthy of our talents. Piety urges us to give the best of who we are and what we have to the job at hand. The boss does not have to be there watching what we do. We work for the Lord of our hearts and his work is the work of our hands. In the morning we gave ourselves to the Lord to be used. In the evening of our day, we examine how well the Lord had used us and we give thanks for the wonder of what is accomplished by his presence in our lives.
Study
A good wife or a good husband is a prize beyond estimation. They bring good to each other all the days of their lives. There is work done for each other with loving hands. There are so many ways a good person’s life shines out with the goodness of the Lord. Such a person gives without counting the cost. Life of such a person is filled to brimming over with good deeds that are not measured out by what another has done for them. Love cannot be deserved. Only justice is deserved. Those who fear the Lord are caught up in wonder at all the Lord has done for us. What return can be made to the Lord for all that he has given us? We call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. We take up the chalice of salvation to give thanks to the Lord for all that he has done for us.
Action
We commit ourselves to work for the Lord with our hearts wide open. There is never enough we can do. We work as if this is the last day of our lives. We give the best we can in the moment we are in. We are not saving up our talents for something we could be certain is worth doing. We make the ordinary extraordinary by the love of our hearts being all there in what we do. Our prosperity comes from the blessings of the Lord on the poverty of what we give. We rejoice in the truth that the Lord has loved us with the same love his Father had for him. We live out a response to the Lord by loving our neighbor even as the Lord has loved us. We enter into our master’s joy in the happiness our working with full hearts brings us. Our hearts hear the “well done” of the Master’s pleasure in us because we have been worthy of his praise by giving our all back to him. He gave us our freedom and we gladly return it to him because we realize his grace and his love is more than enough for us.
