Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary time (1000th consecutive daily post to Your Daily Tripod)
By Rev. Joe McCloskey, S.J.
When one finds a worthy wife, her value is far beyond pearls. Her husband, entrusting his heart to her, has an unfailing prize. She brings him good, and not evil, all the days of her life. Proverbs 31:10-12
But you, brothers, 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. Matthew 25:29
Piety
Happy are all who fear the LORD, who walk in the ways of God.
What your hands provide you will enjoy; you will be happy and prosper:
Like a fruitful vine your wife within your home, like olive plants your children around your table.
Just so will they be blessed who fear the LORD.
Psalm 128:1-4
Study
The parable of the Talents is a challenge to use everything we have for the sake of the Lord. The book of proverbs talks about a worthy wife who uses all that she has for others. Motives for putting all of ourselves into what we are doing frequently come down to what we are getting out of our work for ourselves. That is what is meant by selfishness. Pride, anger, lust, envy, gluttony, avarice and sloth are the eight most famous names for the different forms of selfishness. It is so easy to get caught up into selfishness because the energies of selfishness are all refractions of the gift of life. I can live my life for myself. And that makes self the recipient of all the gifts that God has given us. Or I can use those energies for the sake of human life and others and that makes them into virtues that reflect our love for others. That is the meaning of selflessness.
We approach the quality of Jesus’ love when we use our talents for the sake of others. The invitation of Christ is that we love one another even as Christ has loved us. Christ tells us that he has loved us as his Father has loved him. The Father’s love is such that he has given all of himself to the Eternal Word. The Eternal Word’s love is such that he receives all he has from the Father. Total giving and total receiving meet as the Holy Spirit. Christ gives all of himself to us.
Baptism births us in Christ’s life. Eucharist is the total gift of Christ’s love for us in the giving of himself to us as the food of our souls. We love as Christ loved when we use the energies of our life for the sake of each other.
Action
The problem of talents is in the fact that we are possessors of the gifts for the sake of others. They are not complete in themselves. We have to use them that they can grow. God has given us many chances to be of service to each other and we fight the using of our gifts when it is inconvenient. We do not always want to be giving. All too often we are like the fellow who buried his talents because he did not recognize his responsibility to use what he had for the sake of the giver of the talents. The talents are given to each of us according to our ability.
They exist as gifts of God that we have the responsibility to use for others. Group reunion is like a reckoning. It offers us the chance to say to others what we are about in our apostolic life. We go on record with one another in terms of what we say we are going to try to do for those we serve. And we say simply the next week how faithfully we did what we said we would do. In this way we do not live our lives in darkness. So we prepare for the coming of the Lord. We can hope to hear the Lord say because we have been faithful in small matters that he will give us great responsibilities. We do not do the good we do for the sake of the reward. Love is what we do without expecting anything back.
Heaven is where we discover our love for one another was love for Christ.
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