Today’s scripture readings prepare us for the end of the
year and challenge us to understand our life in terms of its ultimate
purpose. On this the second last Sunday
of the liturgical year, our prayer centers around the accountability the Lord
will ultimately ask of each of us. In
terms of the Gospel parable of the various talents given to the three servants,
we too have been generous recipients of blessings and talents from our loving
God. Have we buried our talents in the ground or have
we used them to make a difference in the lives of others?
The second Scripture reading from St Paul tells us the Day
of the Lord is coming like a thief in the night. We know not the day or the hour. But what really matters on the Day of the
Lord is not weather is know the day or the hour but what we are doing with the graces
and talents that have been given to us.
In today’s Gospel, the master went away for a while after entrusting his
servants with various talents.
For us as well, Jesus appears to have gone away for a while
after he ascended into heaven. He does
not leave us orphans. We have been
blessed with talents and blessings. Our
prayerful question is one of accountability.
What are we doing with the talents God has given us?
For me, I was baptized at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church when I was just three weeks old. At age 14, I entered St. Andrew's Seminary and began my 12 year path in the seminary that led to my ordination to the priesthood on June 1, 1968. Bishop Fulton Sheen ordained me a priest.
As important to me as the day of my ordination was, a far
greater blessing for me was the day of my Baptism. I received the life of Christ for the first time. I was welcomed into the family of the
Church. I became God’s beloved son. I was missioned to share the love of God that
was given to me.
For many of you who have celebrated the Sacrament of
Marriage and the blessings you enjoy as a husband or wife, and as a dad or a
mom, yet it was on the day of your baptism that you received your most
significant talent – the life of Christ Jesus that is within you.
The question for all of us is have we buried the love of God
within us or is the mystery of God’s love that is within us the defining talent
of who we are as a disciple of Jesus?
As we fast forward to the present moment in our lives, many
years may have passed since the day of your baptism. What kind of accountability will we give back
to Jesus on the coming of the Day of the Lord for us?
Have we recognized and claimed and valued our God-given
giftedness? Do we live our lives knowing
we are God’s beloved sons, God’s beloved daughters? Is the source of our confidence and
self-esteem flow from the reality that we have within ourselves the wellspring
of eternal life? God goes with us 24
hours a day, seven days a week.
Yes, we all live busy lives.
We are consumed by so much stuff to do; we all have our own set of fears
and anxieties; we have trouble balancing the priorities of our lives. The challenge for all of us to place God
first in our lives. It’s too easy to
bury our baptismal talent in the midst of a life that is filled with activity
from one moment to the next.
This past week on Thursday I was at St. Mary’s Seminary in
Baltimore as one of our seminarians, Jorge Ramirez, was receiving the rite of
candidacy for the clerical state – an important step on his way to
priesthood. It made for a bit of a
hectic schedule but the challenge for me and all of us is to keep a center to
our lives in the midst of life’s busyness -- that center is found in the
mystery of God’s love that is within us.
May all of us keep our inner compass of leading God-centered lives
I must say that I am at the stage in the life cycle that I
really have to work at it to stay in reasonably good physical shape. It doesn't just happen naturally
anymore. So, I try to stay committed to
regular exercise and watch my diet.
So too, in the spiritual life, we need to remain committed
to using the talents and the blessings we have been given. It just doesn't happen naturally. The Gospel message speaks of accountability.
So, we ask ourselves have we buried in the ground any of our
God-given talents – perhaps out of fear that something might go wrong. So we do nothing. This is the story of the servant in the
Gospel who did nothing with the talent given to him? In what ways have we not gone out of our
comfort zone to reach out in the service of others?
Where have we doubled the investment that God has made in us
in the blessings we have received? We
can rightly say that being here at Mass is our beautiful way of giving thanks
to the Lord our God for the blessings of life?
But in all honesty, this one hour a week is only the
beginning of what the Lord asks of us.
Love is the first requirement of ourselves as disciples of Jesus? For example in our parish life, we have developed six leadership teams in the various areas of ministry. We would most welcome
you using your talents on one of these leadership teams.
In the Gospel parable, we are told that we cannot just sit
back and wait. We are called to give and
to share the talents that have been given to us. We are called to serve not only in the life
of the Church, but in our community. May
we continue to develop outreach initiatives that serve our wider community.
The grace we ask for this weekend to for us to make an
investment in our Church, an investment in the service of others, and, most of all, may
we make an investment in God -- the God who has loved us into life.
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